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Press Release: Berkeley Law 2012 Graduation Tomorrow: More Protest Against Torture Lawyer John Yoo

From The World Can't Wait
Thursday May 10, 2012 - 12:29:00 PM

Protesters will denounce torture, and the University of California’s continuing connection to torture, outside tomorrow's commencement ceremony at UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall). 

As in previous years’ graduation demonstrations, protesters including those costumed to represent prisoners at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and other sites where the U.S. currently manages a regimen of illegal rendition, detention, and torture, will gather outside the commencement before and during the ceremony. They will call for an end to, and accountability for, this illegal program wherever it has been operating.  

Berkeley Law professor John Yoo is on the list of Bush Regime officials who they say should be prosecuted for war crimes. Yoo was on sabbatical from UC when he spent two years in the Bush-Cheney Department of Justice. He was the key legal architect of the torture policies and practices set up at that time, which came to light via photos from Abu Ghraib, and have since then intensified and spread, including under the Obama administration. 

World Can’t Wait spokesperson Stephanie Tang said today: “John Yoo teaching constitutional law to the next generation of lawyers and judges is a perverse mockery of what a law school education should be. Yoo’s infamous disregard for , and destruction of, basic legal principles under the U.S. Constitution and international law, including the Geneva Conventions, renders him unfit to teach.” 

When: Friday, May 11, 2012 

Where: Hearst Greek Theater, Berkeley 

9 AM: Protest outside Commencement (10 AM Ceremony) 

 

Over the past years many diverse voices have called for John Yoo to be held accountable for his work enabling torture, joining the demand for Yoo to be fired, disbarred, and prosecuted. Curt Wechsler of FireJohnYoo.org calls Yoo’s legal work “a work product akin to that of the German lawyers and judges who were found guilty of war crimes at Nuremberg after World War II.” 

 

At UC Berkeley, Yoo’s presence on the faculty has been defended by the outgoing Chancellor, the dean of Berkeley Law, and the rightwing Federalist Society. Their position echoes the Obama administration’s declaration to “Look forward, not back” regarding any accountability for the many Bush-Cheney officials responsible for the torture and related governmental crimes committed during that regime. 

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Flash: Occupy Reports Police Are Raiding UC Berkeley's Gill Tract Property

Wednesday May 09, 2012 - 08:13:00 AM

The Planet has received this report from Occupy the Farm:

"May 9, 7:00 a.m.: Police are staging to raid the Gill Tract Farm. They have locked and barricaded the gates to the property with dozens of people still inside and have threatened to use 'chemical agents.'  

"The Gill Tract is located at the corner of Marin and San Pablo Avenue in Albany, CA." 

Further information will be posted when available,


Updated: UC Berkeley Says It Will Seek 'Other Remedies' For Farm Protest--Prof. Altieri to Continue Planting on Site Along with Protesters

By Jeff Shuttleworth
Wednesday May 09, 2012 - 12:15:00 AM

University of California at Berkeley officials said yesterday that they will "pursue other remedies" to cope with protesters who have occupied a 10-acre plot of university-owned agricultural land in Albany for 17 days.

However, university spokesman Dan Mogulof declined to specify what actions the university might take against the protesters.

Late last night,according to a release from Occupy the Farm, UC Berkeley Professor Miguel Altieri, who has been a researcher on the Gill Tract for 31 years, will plant his crops tomorrow, demonstrating that research can exist alongside the Farm. He announced his plan at a university community forum, organized by the Gill Tract Farmers Collective, on the UC Berkeley campus Tuesday evening.  

University officials sent a proposal to the protesters late last week to engage in a dialogue to try to resolve the standoff at the site, which is known as the Gill Tract and is located near the corner of Marin and San Pablo avenues. The protest began on April 22, which is Earth Day. 

Protesters, who call their action "Occupy the Farm," issued a response to the university's proposal Monday night. 

But UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer and Vice Chancellor John Wilton said in a statement today that "we received with disappointment and dismay the occupiers' response." 

Breslauer and Wilton said, "We find it very difficult to understand the moral, legal or intellectual basis for demands that would put a self-selected group in a position to dictate how, when and where our faculty conduct important research to which they have dedicated their professional lives." 

The two officials said, "There also is a stunning degree of arrogance and entitlement inherent in this group's demands and statements about what they are 'willing' to do for our researchers." 

Protesters have planted vegetables at the site and say they are occupying the land because they want it to be preserved for sustainable agriculture. 

They allege that UC plans to replace the current agricultural land with commercial, recreational and open space. 

But university officials say the existing agricultural fields will continue to be used as an open-air laboratory by the students and faculty of the College of Natural Resources for agricultural research. 

They say the parcel of land slated to be developed is to the south of the Gill Tract, at Monroe Street and San Pablo Avenue. That land hasn't been farmed since World War II, according to the university. 

Earlier today, Occupy the Farm spokeswoman Anya Kamanskaya said UC police officers came by the site early today to warn protesters that they are trespassing on university property, but she said that isn't unusual because police have been issuing such notices since the protest began. 

She said activists "are committed to farming the land here" and have no plans to leave.  

The protesters said in their proposal that they will leave the site only if certain conditions are met, such as having municipal water made available to irrigate its crops and making sure that the community have access to the field to tend to the crops that have been planted. 

The protesters also want the university to stop using pesticides and other chemicals at the site.


Press Release: Berkeley Police Say Suspect Who Shot at Officers Facing Charges in March Homicide and April Attempt Murder of Five Officers

From Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, BPD PIO
Tuesday May 08, 2012 - 04:22:00 PM

The City of BerkeleyPolice Department (BPD) is announcing that the suspect who shot at officers on April 13, 2012 has been charged with a March 2012 Berkeley homicide in addition to the attempted murder of five officers in an April shooting. 

On March 29, 2012, Devin Whitmire was shot on Oregon Street, west of Sacramento Street. Whitmire died a short time later. In the ensuing investigation, BPD Homicide Detectives identified Calvester Houston Stewart, 19, of Berkeley, as a person of interest in this case. 

On April 13, 2012, a BPD patrol officer made a traffic enforcement stop on a car in West Berkeley. One subject fled the car on foot. That subject is believed to have been Stewart, the person of interest in the March homicide. 

Officers immediately went to an address in the 900 block of Delaware Street where they located Stewart in an apartment. In an apparent attempt to escape, Stewart emerged from that apartment, ignored officers’ commands, and opened fire on several BPD officers. Several officers returned fire. An officer wounded Stewart before he was able to flee from the property. After being treated for his injuries, Stewart was booked into the Santa Rita County Jail for a felony probation violation, pending an investigation of attempt murder on several officers. 

The investigation into Stewart’s apparent involvement in both incidents resulted in a complex, multi-layered case. Detectives continued with their work, ultimately presenting their investigations to the Alameda County District Attorney (DA).The DA has charged Stewart with 187(a) PC – Murder, with enhancements of 12022.53 (d) PC and 29800 (a) (1) PC – Felon in Possession of a Firearm for the homicide of Devin Whitmire. Stewart has also been charged with five (5) counts of 664/187(a) PC – Attempt Murder, with the enhancements of four (4) counts of 12022.53 (c)PC, one (1) count of 12022.53 (b) PC and one (1) count of 29800 (a) (1) PC for shooting at BPD officers. 

Stewart remains in custody pending the prosecution of these cases.


The Agony of Aquatic Park (News Analysis)

By Toni Mester
Monday May 07, 2012 - 01:45:00 PM
Toni Mester

A special public hearing before the Berkeley City Council will be held tomorrow night (Tuesday, May 8) at 7 PM in the second floor chambers at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way (Old City Hall). A single item is on the agenda: zoning changes to the master use permits allowing greater development, including two parcels directly on Bolivar Drive at Aquatic Park. 

That has environmentalists worried. The Sierra Club, Golden Gate Audubon Society, and Citizens for East Shore Parks oppose the increases, which could raise the height limit from 45’ to 75’, with extra allowances for a mechanical penthouse if required, and obscure views of the hills from the park and from the pedestrian bridge that connects Aquatic Park to McLaughlin East Shore Park. The mass or floor area ratio (FAR) could also increase by 50%. 

The environmentalists advocate set-backs of 100’ to protect over 70 species of birds that nest, feed, or over-winter in the park. In a May 2011 letter to the City Council, Mike Lynes, the conservation director of the Golden Gate Audubon Society says that “large buildings looming over the street…would make this part of the park less attractive to most park users” and that “increased artificial lighting can change the behavior of birds and other wildlife, alter nesting, foraging, and migratory patterns and result in increased predation on nests and adult birds.” 

The new allowances were proposed in an effort to attract the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to Berkeley, but since the lab has chosen the UC Richmond field station as its second campus, the City is reviewing the master use permits as sites for potential spinoff enterprises and other uses. 

An orphan park 

Aquatic Park is the largest of the City of Berkeley’s 52 parks, about 100 acres, 2/3 of which are lagoons, created by the WPA between 1935 and 1937 at the same time as the Bayshore Highway and the Yacht Harbor. The eastern edge of Aquatic Park is the natural shoreline of San Francisco Bay. 

Despite heavy use and many demands placed upon it by runners, dog walkers, water skiers, boaters, cyclists, birders, families who visit the children’s playground, and the disabled who enjoy the specially adapted cycling and sailing programs, Aquatic Park has often been neglected and abused by the City of Berkeley. 

Exposure to the freeway degrades the west side of the park, which could be used for leisure and picnics; yet many cyclists, runners and dog walkers suffer the unpleasant noise, emissions and hazards from flying rocks because the park location is convenient to many flatland neighborhoods and work places. 

In November of 2007, the City Council reassigned $1.5 million from a sound wall project over the protests of Councilmember Dona Spring, who had championed an alternative to the standard CalTrans concrete block wall. Although the Council resolution stated that the city “can request a sound wall or other sound reducing enhancements in the future,” nothing has been done towards building the much needed barrier. 

A freeway on-ramp along Potter Street between the radio tower and middle ponds makes the south end of the park dangerous for walkers, and about once a year, a car will actually drive into the middle pond at the sharp left turn from Bay Street. The on-ramp itself is dangerous, merging first with the Ashby ramp and then onto I-80 eastbound traffic, a tight squeeze at the best of times. Two years ago, a semi-trailer truck overturned down the slope towards the edge of the main lagoon. 

In the dark of night, stolen cars and dead bodies have been deposited at the south end, which provides an easy getaway onto the freeway. In 2009 the city started to clean up about 50 dens used by the homeless, addicts, and gay men. Parks Superintendent Sue Ferrera said condoms, hypodermic needles and even human feces were found in the nests. To facilitate police surveillance, dense shrubs have been cut back, removing foliage that birds use for food and cover from people and dogs. 

Dogs also concern the Audubon Society, which has periodically but unsuccessfully tried to get the City to enforce the leash laws. Aquatic Park is an on-leash area, though you would scarce know it from number of dogs that freely roam the uplands, chasing frisbees and harrying the shorebirds. 

To aggravate these problems, Aquatic Park is desperately in need of hydrologic improvements. The tidal tubes, built in the 1930’s, have not been cleaned of natural marine growth in over a decade, limiting their capacity, and the old Potter Creek storm drain that runs under the roadway between the main and middle lagoons needs to be replaced. Potter Creek comprises 1/3 of the City’s total watershed, and its main conduit cannot carry all the storm water to the Bay. The excess empties directly into the middle pond and through a lateral pipe that runs beneath the path on the east side of the main lagoon. 

Pollution from the streets and garbage from storm drains including cigarette butts and food encrusted paper wash into a delicate habitat where birds feed. Fresh water itself is toxic because the marine ecology of Aquatic Park is saline, and the storm water disturbs the tiny fish and insects that the birds eat. 

Who pays the plumbing? 

The City wants to correct some of these problems through the Aquatic Park Improvement Program (APIP), which has been four years in the making. The draft EIR, due in September according to Project Manager Deborah Chernin, had been suspended when the first consulting firm went bankrupt and is now being prepared by Atkins. 

APIP is a hydrology or flood control project or both, depending on who you talk to. The actual engineering was not specified in the project description of the notice of preparation but the DEIR should clarify what works are proposed. A channel may be dredged that allows storm water to flow from the middle pond into the main lagoon. 

That’s a controversial plan as many environmentalists believe that no polluted fresh water should enter the lagoons at all. But to bypass the lagoons, the Potter Storm drain must be replaced, called the “preferred option” or option 1 in the Public Works Department’s Watershed Management Plan. The cost to replace is high, over $17 million but that’s only $2.5 million over an alternative with smaller capacity, which would still pollute Aquatic Park by discharging storm water into the main lagoon. Both the Sierra Club and CESP have endorsed Option 1. 

The Potter storm drain is about 8% of the total cost of watershed improvements, which are estimated in the watershed management plan at over $200 million. The Potter Creek improvements are the biggest ticket item—$65 million. An analysis of the options can be found at the end of the plan and were presented to the City Council by the Public Works Department on April 3 of this year. Watching the video of the work session is the easiest way to catch up. 

The City Council hired Lake Research Partners to survey what kind of tax increases the voters are willing to fund, and the results so far do not indicate a 2/3 majority to pay for anything. The most popular combination is roads and storm drains, but not at the level that would actually underwrite what is required to fund the watershed plan, which is only one big infrastructure item. 

The Parks and Recreation tax fund “has a structural deficit of $462,000 in operations,” according to the City Manager’s report of April 3. The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department is drawing down the Parks Tax Fund “currently about $2.3 million. If the structural deficit continues at the current amount, and there are no other needs for use of the fund balance, it would be exhausted in about 5 years.” The Park and Recreation Commission’s report also “indicates that approximately $725,000 in additional funding is needed on an annual basis for major maintenance projects in the Parks system. This was based on staff’s estimate that an additional $400,000 is needed for additional staffing and $325,000 for equipment, materials and supplies. Currently $250,000 of Parks Tax funds is dedicated annually to major maintenance and capital projects” 

You get the drift. 

At the same time that the Parks and Recreation and Public Works Departments are crying for money, the Planning and Development Department is also running on a structural deficit and rapidly emptying its piggybank. The planners and the Planning Commission have advanced new rules for master use permits, which are like development agreements but without the contractual rigor that we got from the 1993 Bayer agreement, which has returned over $20 million so far in benefits to the City plus taxes and infrastructure improvements. 

Given the City finances, the master use permits ordinance, in its current iteration, is an imprudent giveaway of extremely valuable air space – without any firm mechanism for return, especially to fund the expensive plumbing of the water that circulates within Aquatic Park and empties into the Bay as well as other park improvements. 

Council members Worthington and Maio have called Aquatic Park “a gem” while Igor Tregub of the Sierra Club prefers “a diamond in the rough.” True, Aquatic Park looks good from the pedestrian bridge and from many points around its 2 mile parameter, but under the glitter, it’s dying a slow death. 

Saving Aquatic Park 

The reasons for the sorry state of Aquatic Park are many. It can be seen as a victim of district elections because District 2, in which it lies, has never elected a conservationist. Without an advocate in City Hall, the money to repair the decaying plumbing, erect a freeway barrier, enhance the facilities, and patrol the grounds has gone to other projects. 

Hard working and dedicated city staffers have struggled with the funds at their disposal, but one wonders whether the three departments involved share a united vision. Four years of Planning Commission hearings on the West Berkeley Project gave no evidence of cooperation with Public Works or Parks and Recreation regrding Aquatic Park. 

Individual citizens have power in this situation. They can help by attending the City Council meeting on Tuesday night May 8 and advocating for an Aquatic Park improvement fee for all development in West Berkeley, providing partial payment to fund Option 1 of the watershed plan, the replacement of the Potter Creek storm drain main conduit, and other capital investments including a sound wall. An annual fee would help maintain the park. 

They can state what they will and will not support on the ballot in November and the conditions that will gain their votes. 

Please support the position of the environmental organizations: to maintain the current heights and mass with protective setbacks of 100 feet to buffer negative effects on the wildlife and allow for natural bio-filtration of run-off. 

If you use Aquatic Park and want it retained as a recreation area and wildlife habitat, please tell the Council how you currently enjoy the park and how you would like to see it improved. 

Let’s end this agony and save Aquatic Park for the generations to come. 


Toni Mester is a resident of West Berkeley


Amyris Loses Major Mutual Fund Investment

By Richard Brenneman
Monday May 07, 2012 - 09:38:00 AM

Editor's Note: Richard Brenneman has been tracking the sinking fortunes of Amyris, a U.C. Berkeley spin-off which is typical of the kind of companies contemplated by the radical amendments proposed for the West Berkeley Plan and its zoning which the Berkeley City Council seems ready to pass in the next couple of weeks. This story first appeared on his blog, Eats, Shoots 'n' Leaves.

UPDATE: Shares just hit another record low as we were posting. They’re now selling for $2.59.

Companies like to drop bad news on Friday. That’s because few people are interested in news on Saturday.

Amyris, the UC-Berkeley spawned genetic engineering company created by Val “bioengineer” Jay Keasling, dropped a bombshell on Friday afternoon: Their biggest mutual find investor, the Fidelity group of funds, is selling off two thirds of their holdings. 

The company had trumpeted the news when Fidelity bought 6.2 million shares on 28 February, paying $5.78 a share. 

As of market close Friday, those same shares were worth $2.73, and as we write, they’re going for $2.65, just four cents above the company’s all-time low of two weeks ago. Shares were going to $33.85 just 14 months ago. 

In a prospectus Amyris filed to sell the Fidelity shares, the company made the usually cautionary disclosures. 

These in particular caught our eye: 

We have very limited experience producing our products at the commercial scale needed for the development of our business, and we will not succeed if we cannot effectively scale our technology and processes. 

>snip< 

[O]ur technology may not perform as expected when applied at commercial scale on a sustained basis, or we may encounter operational challenges for which we are unable to devise a workable solution. For example, in 2011 at our contract manufacturing facilities, contamination in the production process, problems with plant utilities, lack of automation and related human error, process modifications to reduce costs and adjust product specifications, and other similar challenges decreased process efficiency, created delays and increased our costs. Such challenges are likely to continue as we and our contract manufacturing partners develop our production processes and establish new facilities. 

Back in 2010, in a video produced for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he hangs his hat as the lab’s chief synthetic biologist, Keasling blithely dismissed any problems with scaling up. As he observes in the video “They scale beautifully.” 

To which we can only add, except when they don’t. 

Back to the prospectus, where we discovered this little item: 

The 4,173,622 shares of common stock covered by this prospectus may be acquired by the selling stockholders from us by electing to convert the senior unsecured convertible promissory notes issued to the selling stockholders pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement, dated February 24, 2012, by and between us and the selling stockholders. We agreed to file a registration statement with the SEC covering the resale of the shares issuable upon conversion of the unsecured senior convertible promissory notes referenced above. 

Note that word “unsecured.” 

UPDATE II: Some background 

Amyris was started by Keasling and funded by Bill Gates to used genetically engineered microbes produce a cheap version of the antimalarial artemisin to replace the drugg naturally derived from artemisia, the wormwood plant, which is cultivated by thousands of farmers in Asia and Africa. 

While the bugs produced the drug, the price was no cheaper than the natural version. 

They next converted the microbe to produce precursors of fuel from plant cellulose. So far the process has been used mainly to produce higher cost chemicals for use in cosmetics, and mass-produced fuel remains a dream, thanks to those scale-up problems Keasling blithely assured us weren’t a problem. 

Just what the future holds for the company remains very much in doubt, and just how long the other major institutional investors will be willing to accommodate massive losses before forcing a bankruptcy remains an open question


Occupation of UC Berkeley Land Continues for 17th Day

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)
Tuesday May 08, 2012 - 04:20:00 PM

A standoff between protesters and the University of California at Berkeley over a 10-acre plot of university-owned agricultural land in Albany continued into its 17th day today. 

Anya Kamanskaya, of the group Occupy The Farm, said the ball is in the university's court after protesters issued a response late Monday to the university's proposal to resolve the standoff. 

UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said the university planned to respond to the protesters' letter later today. 

Occupy the Farm activists moved onto the site, which is known as the Gill Tract and is located near the corner of Marin and San Pablo avenues, on April 22, which is Earth Day. 

They've planted vegetables at the site and say they are occupying the land because they want it to be preserved for sustainable agriculture. 

They allege that UC plans to replace the current agricultural land with commercial, recreational and open space. 

But university officials say the existing agricultural fields will continue to be used as an open-air laboratory by the students and faculty of the College of Natural Resources for agricultural research. 

They say the parcel of land slated to be developed is to the south of the Gill Tract, at Monroe Street and San Pablo Avenue. That land hasn't been farmed since World War II, according to the university. 

Kamanskaya said UC police officers came by the site early today to warn protesters that they are trespassing on university property, but she said that isn't unusual because police have been issuing such notices since the protest began. 

She said activists "are committed to farming the land here" and have no plans to leave.


Deliberations Begin in Berkeley Murder Trial

JeffShuttleworth
Monday May 07, 2012 - 06:57:00 PM

Jurors today began deliberating the fate of a Berkeley man charged with murder for the shooting death of popular former Berkeley High School student Keith Stephens six years ago. 

Prosecutor Stacie Pettigrew told jurors that 31-year-old Bahsson Smith "thought he was getting away" with murder by trying to blame the shooting on another man but evidence eventually connected him to the crime. 

In her closing argument in Smith's trial, Pettigrew said Smith told friends in phone calls from jail that were recorded by authorities that "they ain't got enough evidence" against him and "I ain't worried." 

Pettigrew said Smith presented himself to Berkeley police as a witness to Stephens' shooting in the 1200 block of Carrison Street in southwest Berkeley on Feb. 19, 2006, and shifted the blame to Kamassa Palmer, a friend who had been in a dispute with Stephens shortly before he was killed. 

But she said an eyewitness identified Smith as the person who killed Stephens, and that when Smith was interviewed by police, he disclosed details of the crime that only the killer would know. 

Stephens, 24, was a former Berkeley High School student and junior college football player. He was described as very popular and was one of three Berkeley High graduates in the class of 2000 who were profiled in the book "Class Dismissed" by Oakland author Meredith Maran. 

Pettigrew said Stephens was infatuated with cars and that was a factor that led to the series of events that culminated in his shooting death. 

Pettigrew said Stephens had sold an old Buick to Palmer but he was mad at Palmer for not paying him the full amount he was owed, so on the evening of Feb. 19, 2006, he went looking for Palmer because he felt taken advantage of and was upset. 

Pettigrew said Stephens went to the home of Palmer's girlfriend, Nora Miranda, but when she wouldn't tell him where Palmer was he broke a window in her car. 

That act of vandalism ultimately cost him his life, she said. 

Smith was a friend of Miranda and he tracked down Stephens a short time later when Stephens went to an acquaintance's home in the 1200 block of Carrison Street, Pettigrew said. 

Pettigrew alleged that when Stephens opened the door of the home, Smith said, "What's up, cuz," shot Stephens in the chest at short range, then got in a car and drove away. 

She said that when Berkeley police arrested Smith four days after the fatal shooting on suspicion of vandalism and domestic violence against his girlfriend, he asked to speak to homicide detectives and implicated Palmer in Stephens' death. 

Smith's attorney, Darryl Stallworth, told jurors that they should find Smith not guilty because he doesn't think the prosecution presented enough reliable evidence to prove its case against him. 

Stallworth said the prosecution's main eyewitness is unreliable and lacks credibility because he has felony convictions for drug, fraud and theft offenses and was under the influence of drugs, alcohol and medication on the night that Stephens was killed. 

Stallworth also said there's no physical evidence which proves that Smith was the person who killed Stephens. 

"There's no video, no fingerprints, no DNA and the shotgun was never recovered," Stallworth said. 

Stallworth said it appears that Stephens was "a very nice man" with a nice family but he thinks Stephens "set the whole tragedy in motion" by seeking Palmer "in anger and rage" and threatening to kill him. 

Jurors deliberated for about an hour today and will resume their deliberations Tuesday morning.


New: Second Suspect in Berkeley Shooting Pleads Not Guilty

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)
Monday May 07, 2012 - 06:35:00 PM

A 19-year-old Berkeley man pleaded not guilty today to a murder charge stemming from the shooting death of another man outside a Berkeley liquor store in late March. 

Calvester Stewart is the second suspect to be charged with murder for the death of 24-year-old Devin Lee Whitmire of Berkeley in the 2800 block of Sacramento Street at about 7:35 p.m. on March 29. 

Prosecutors previously charged 18-year-old Randall Oscar Alston with murder and he pleaded not guilty at a hearing on April 9. 

Stewart, who is being held without bail, came to court today in a wheelchair, as he allegedly engaged in a shootout with Berkeley police officers on April 13 that left him injured, according to police. 

Berkeley police said they attempted to make a traffic stop on him near Eighth and Delaware streets at about 10:40 p.m. that night but he fled on foot and went into a nearby apartment building. 

Police said that after they surrounded the building Stewart came out and shot at officers but they returned fire and an officer struck him. 

Berkeley police said they expected Stewart to be charged with several counts of attempted murder of a peace officer but the Alameda County District Attorney's Office only charged him with possession of a firearm by a felon. Prosecutors allege that Stewart has a prior conviction for possession of a firearm. 

Alston and Stewart are scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court on May 21 for a preliminary hearing but Stewart's lawyer, Joann Kingston, said today that she might not be prepared by that time and she also will seek to have Stewart prosecuted separately from Alston. 

Judge Carrie Panetta scheduled a hearing on those issues for May 14. 

After Alston entered his not guilty plea on April 9, his attorney, James Giller, said Alston claims that he didn't kill Whitmire and was on his way to church at the time of the shooting. 

In a probable cause statement filed in court when charges were filed against Alston, Berkeley police Officer Shan Johnson said that Whitmire and his brother were on the sidewalk outside Bob's Liquors and Deli at Sacramento and Oregon streets when they were approached by Alston and a second suspect, whom Johnson didn't name. 

Whitmire's brother knew Alston and acknowledged him and Alston responded by acknowledging Whitmire's brother, according to Johnson. 

But Whitmire's brother then saw Alston and the second suspect approach Whitmire and saw the second suspect displaying a black handgun, Johnson said. 

The brother yelled a warning to Whitmire and they both began to flee but the brother then heard "numerous gunshots" and discovered that Whitmire had been struck by the gunshots, Johnson said. 

About 30 minutes after the shooting, Whitmire's brother spotted Alston and "physically assaulted him," according to Johnson. 

Berkeley police who were nearby spotted the assault and detained the brother and Alston, he said. 

The brother identified Alston and said he was one of the people responsible for shooting Whitmire, Johnson said. 

Whitmire was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead. 

Whitmire's death was the third homicide in Berkeley so far this year.


West Berkeley Traffic to Worsen (News Analysis)

By Toni Mester
Friday May 04, 2012 - 11:12:00 AM
Trafic
Trafic

A second public hearing on the West Berkeley Project (WBP) is scheduled before the City Council on Tuesday May 8 starting at 7 PM, a special meeting with a single item on the agenda: the proposed master use permits allowing increased development. A summary of the first hearing on May 1 can be found on Berkeleyside, and the complete video posted on the City Council web pages. 

Of the many significant impacts documented by the Project’s Environmental Impact Report, traffic numbers the most, 23 out of 33 potential problems including air quality, obstructed views, noise, and conflicts of land use. 

It’s funny how traffic creeps up on us. A generation ago, a driver could get around West Berkeley without delays. By the early 1990’s, not much had changed. The West Berkeley Plan EIR of 1993 recorded the east bound evening rush hour traffic on Dwight Way at San Pablo Avenue as 570 vehicles, and the north bound traffic on Sixth Street and University at 765. By 2010, the EIR for the West Berkeley Project counted the peak evening traffic as 1218 at Dwight and San Pablo, more than double, and Sixth and University at 846. 

What happened in the interim? The expansion of the Bayer campus at the base of Dwight Way under the Development Agreement of 1993 gradually increased hires by the hundreds, and even with a robust traffic demand management (TDM) program that provides shuttles and loads employee Clipper cards, the majority of the approximately 1300 Bayer workers still commute by car, as shown in their annual report. 

Failing grades 

Development creates congestion, and delays increase dangerous queues and emissions. The exhaustive traffic analysis (pun intended) in the West Berkeley Project EIR conducted by Wilbur Smith Associates studied 65 intersections in West Berkeley and rated them by standards known as LOS (levels of service), measuring the vehicle waiting time at each intersection. A failing grade of E or F is considered unacceptable. 

In the peak evening commute hour, the current failing intersections around West Berkeley neighborhoods are clockwise from the Gilman 1-80 interchange (a palpable F): Gilman at 2nd and 4th; San Pablo Avenue at Gilman, Camelia, Virginia, University, and Bancroft; and University at the Frontage Road and 6th. 

Twenty years from now in 2030, with or without the proposed development, additional intersections will also fail according to the projections: University at 7th and 8th, San Pablo at Cedar, Channing and Dwight, and Dwight at 7th. The only intersection that would fail solely as a result of the West Berkeley Project would be 4th and Allston, due to developments near Aquatic Park. 

 

We are doomed to evening gridlock on the City’s main arteries because of regional population growth. With or without the West Berkeley Project, traffic will soon become insufferable, but the proposed development will make it worse. A close analysis of the numbers shows that the WBP would increase the waiting time at almost every neighborhood intersection. 

What can be done? The West Berkeley Circulation Master Study of 2009 recommends a menu of TDM’s including shuttles, car pools, transit subsidies, bike storage, and flexible work hours while Peter Eakland, the traffic engineer working for the Peerless project, suggests changing the design of key intersections to speed traffic, but all these mitigations require political will and money. 

In his EIR comments Eakland says that a Nexus study and transportation services fee are “common knowledge” but the proposed zoning ordinance makes no mention of such. The ordinance lists affordable artist space, job training, and TDMs as optional benefits. On May 1, comments made by Council members indicated their displeasure at the paltry benefits. The Sierra Club Northern Alameda County group “advocates that a robust transportation demand management program be required in any large parcel development permit or agreement.” 

The segment of I-80 past Berkeley is operating at capacity at peak commute hours and susceptible to spillover and dangerous back-ups at Ashby and University and at that Devil’s crossroad, the Gilman interchange. The EIR suggested some structural improvements like ramps, roundabouts, and auxiliary lanes, which prompted Lisa Carboni, the District Chief for CalTrans to respond “these projects have not been approved”, meaning funds are not currently available, and cannot be considered mitigations. 

Smart growth assumptions 

Will housing in the MUPs absorb the traffic created by increased jobs? The EIR acknowledges the City’s policy to provide infill housing but does not attempt to quantify its effect on congestion. The traffic projections are based on the volumes generated by similar developments. 

Only wishful thinking would assume that most new residents will work in West Berkeley, located at the center of the Bay Area, a convenient place from which to drive to any number of destinations. Many independent workers such as sales people, contractors, consultants, architects, actors, musicians, and other professionals need to drive within a wide radius, and a West Berkeley home would suit them well. 

Another factor that belies the “balance” of housing and jobs by numbers is the size of new units, which in Berkeley have mostly been small studios and one or two bedroom apartments. Family housing typically requires three bedrooms. To qualify as permanent infill that might prevent suburban sprawl and long commutes, new housing would have to be competitive in the market. The outlying cities offer a greater supply of affordable homes that are fit for families. 

A final misconception is that new hires will take public transit to their jobs in West Berkeley. The Bayer experience shows us that most employees will drive, for convenience or necessity, even when the employer underwrites alternatives. Where transit exists, many people simply prefer the privacy of their vehicles. Sustainable growth strategies that promote transit ridership, whether prescribed by a local program like Berkeley’s climate action plan or state law like SB 375, can not force personal transportation choice. A green intent is no guarantee of green results. 

The City’s annual climate action update in March bluntly states the problem: “According to the best available data, while the community is making significant gains at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in certain sectors, we currently are not achieving targeted reductions in community-wide GHG emissions…. Reliable transportation data are not available, but given the increase in transportation related emissions at the state and national levels, and given the increase in Berkeley’s population since 2000, it is reasonable to assume that Berkeley’s transportation-related emissions have also not decreased significantly since 2000.” 

Density that is situated in the wrong place, near one of the most congested freeways in the Bay Area, can become more of problem than a panacea for climate change concerns. 

Possible solutions 

What can be done to alleviate congestion, cut emissions, and protect our residential neighborhoods from excessive spillover? Homes in the MUR district and in the nearby Rosa Parks residential neighborhood south of University Avenue will be hardest hit. A prohibition against heavy trucks entering the Rosa Parks neighborhood would protect their almost three thousand inhabitants, including 600 children. The inner Ocean View and many other neighborhoods already have such cordons in place. 

To keep development within livable bounds, a compromise suggested at the Council meeting that would allow maximum heights but impose a project-wide average height and guarantee setbacks from homes in the MUR holds promise, as does the development agreement option that would ensure adequate transportation fees and TDMs as well as other benefits. The City can also maintain the current ceiling on research and development. The new allowances for R&D in formerly protected industrial space are bound to increase traffic because the number of employees per square foot in R&D is roughly quadruple the number in industrial use. 

Housing policies that encourage and incentivize the building of family sized units and facilities for children like day care and play areas would create more opportunities for live/work proximity and stable communities. 

The City should not overlook the dangers of congestion on disaster response as the major escape routes towards the Waterfront in case of an earthquake and/or firestorm dangerously narrow at the freeway overpasses. 

The effects of increased traffic from the West Berkeley Project and regional development including the LBNL second campus in Richmond will be felt throughout the City, on feeder streets from Euclid Avenue to the MLKy Way and many roads in between. To think otherwise is both wishful and irresponsible. 


Toni Mester is a resident of West Berkeley. 

 


Press Release: City of Berkeley Gets New Planning Director

From Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, City of Berkeley
Friday May 04, 2012 - 09:31:00 AM

Eric Angstadt, the City of Berkeley’s new Planning Director, started work this week. His appointment was confirmed by the City Council at their April 3 meeting. 

“Eric is a 16-year veteran of planning and economic development, and has considerable technical knowledge and experience,” said Interim City Manager Christine Daniel, who made the selection after a nationwide search. “He also has the leadership skills necessary to help the department maintain and improve its services in the face of very difficult budget times.” 

The department had been managed by Interim Director Wendy Cosin since former Planning Director Dan Marks retired last July. 

Biography
Angstadt was with the City of Oakland for the last six and half years, where he rose up the ranks to become the Director of the Department of Planning, Building and Neighborhood Preservation. Some of his achievements include: 

• Updating the City’s zoning code, which had not had a comprehensive update since 1965;
• Receiving an award of merit from the Northern California Chapter of the American Planning Association for the zoning code update;
• Initiating five specific areas plans;
• Receiving an award from the Northern California Chapter of the American Planning Association for the grassroots efforts that were part of the International Boulevard Transit Oriented Development Plan; and
• Serving as the Environmental Review Officer and NEPA Review Officer for Oakland. 

Prior to working in Oakland, Eric was a planner and interim economic development director for the City of Benicia and as a consultant and contract planner for numerous companies and jurisdictions. Eric was also an economic development specialist for the State of Tennessee, where he help attract, retain and expand businesses in 16 rural counties. Before becoming a city planner, Eric was an archaeologist in the Southwest and taught archaeology in the Maricopa County Community College system. 

About the Department
The Planning Department currently has just over 50 full time equivalent positions. The
Department is organized into five operating divisions: Building and Safety, Land Use Planning, Office of Energy and Sustainable Development, the Permit Service Center (PSC), and Toxics Management. 

The Planning Department staffs seven commissions: Community Environmental
Advisory Commission; Energy Commission; Design Review Committee; Landmarks
Preservation Commission; Medical Cannabis Commission; Planning Commission; and
the Zoning Adjustments Board. 

For more information, please visit the April 3 Council report here (http://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_City_Council/2012/04Apr/2012-04-03_Item_03_Appointment_of_Director_of_Planning.pdf). 

More information about the Planning Department is available at www.CityofBerkeley.info/planning, www.CityofBerkeley.info/workplan, or www.CityofBerkeley.info/budget.


Deadline for Protesters Passes, U.C. Berkeley Takes No Action

By Sara Gaiser (BCN)
Sunday May 06, 2012 - 09:27:00 PM

A Saturday deadline for protestors to agree to leave a tract of University of California at Berkeley-owned land voluntarily has passed without a response and university officials now say they are weighing their options. 

University officials issued a letter on Friday giving Occupy the Farm protestors until Saturday night to agree to leave the 10-acre Albany property known as the Gill Tract voluntarily. In return, the university offered to conduct a public dialogue on continuing "urban farming" on the land, which is currently used for agricultural research, according to a statement issued by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer and Vice Chancelor John Wilton. 

The offer was first made at a meeting between university and Occupy the Farm representatives in a face-to-face meeting on Thursday, but the protestors said they could not agree to the offer without discussing it with other group members and reaching consensus, the statement said. 

As of Sunday, university officials said they were still waiting for a response. Because student and faculty researchers need to regain access to the property by mid-May in order to conduct their work, if protestors do not agree to leave the university will take action "to ensure the research activities are not impeded and the rule of law is maintained," the statement said. 

"We did not get a response as we hoped and expected last night, so we're disappointed," university spokesman Dan Mogulof said Sunday. "At this point we'll need to evaluate other options to ensure that research can go forward." 

Occupy the Farm took over the Gill Tract, which is located at Marin and San Pablo avenues, on April 22, Earth Day, and has planted crops on the site. Group members have alleged the university plans to develop the property and say they hope to see it preserved for community agriculture.  

University officials have said there are no plans to develop the Gill Tract, and that the retail development group members have mentioned is on a different property that has not been farmed since World War II. 

Occupy the Farm group member Gopal Dayaneni said early Sunday morning that the group had contacted the university through its attorney saying it wanted to meet again Monday to have further conversations.  

"We don't want a raid, we don't want police action," Dayaneni said. "It's not an appropriate way to resolve the situation."  

"It won't end well for them regardless," Dayaneni added. "We're very committed to seeing the vision of the farm preserved and we have an enormous amount of community support, both in the immediate communities and in the wider area."


New: UC Berkeley Offers to Talk With Protesters--After They Leave the Gill Tract

By Sara Gaiser (BCN)
Sunday May 06, 2012 - 09:28:00 AM

University of California at Berkeley officials gave protestors occupying a tract of university-owned land in Albany until midnight last night to agree to leave voluntarily.  

University representatives met with members of the Occupy the Farm group Thursday evening to discuss an end to the protest on the property known as the Gill Tract, but did not reach an agreement, according to a statement issued Friday by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer and Vice Chancelor John Wilton. 

UC officials offered to commit to a discussion of continuing "urban farming" on the tract if the group voluntarily ended its occupation, according to the statement. However, the group members said they needed to take the proposal back to the rest of the group and that it would need to be supported by 100 percent of the group to win approval. 

In a letter from legal counsel sent on Friday, university officials asked protestors to respond to their proposal by tonight. As of around 9:30 p.m., however, there had been no word of a response, university spokesman Dan Mogulof said.  

"We hope to get a response, we hope to avoid conflict," Mogulof said. "We will just wait and see at this point."  

The protest has disrupted faculty and student agricultural research conducted on the 10-acre property, and the College of Natural Resources needs to regain access to the land by mid-May in order to allow work to continue, the statement from Breslauer and Wilton said. 

If protestors choose to reject the university's offer, "we have every intention of honoring our commitment to ensure the research activities are not impeded and the rule of law is maintained," the statement concludes. 

Calls to members of Occupy the Farm last night had not been returned at press time. 

Occupy the Farm took over the Gill Tract, located at Marin and San Pablo avenues in Albany, on April 22. The land is primarily used for agricultural research, but group members have said they believe the university plans to convert it to commercial, recreational and open space uses.  

The group has been planting vegetables at the site, and says it wants to preserve the land for sustainable agriculture. 

Breslauer and Wilton have said in a letter to the community that the existing agricultural fields will continue to be used as an open-air laboratory by the students and faculty of the College of Natural Resources for agricultural research.  

The parcel of land where development is being proposed is to the south of the Gill Tract, at the intersection of Monroe Street and San Pablo Avenue. That land hasn't been farmed since World War II, according to the university.


Press Release: University of California Releases Draft Report on Response to Campus protests

From Steve Montiel, UC Press Office
Friday May 04, 2012 - 05:27:00 PM

University of California officials today (May 4) released a report that examines policies and practices related to UC responses to campus protests. 

After incidents involving police and protesting students at the Berkeley and Davis campuses last November, UC President Mark G. Yudof directed General Counsel Charles F. Robinson and Christopher F. Edley Jr., dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, to identify best practices that could shape responses to such demonstrations in the future. 

The draft report will be online at http://campusprotestreport.universityofcalifornia.edu for three weeks to give stakeholders and the public a chance to comment via email. The comments will be considered, and the final report will be submitted to President Yudof by late May. Recommendations requiring changes in UC policy will be handled through standard review processes. 

In their report, Robinson and Edley provided 50 recommendations in nine categories, including: 

  • · Defining and clearly communicating the free speech rights and responsibilities of the university community, while clarifying that civil disobedience by definition involves violating laws or regulations and generally will have consequences for those engaging in it.
  • · Establishing a system for coordination between police and campus administrators with well-defined roles, emphasizing that ultimate responsibility for the campus response rests with the chancellor.
  • · Improving communication with protestors before and during demonstrations.
  • · Establishing strategies for finding peaceful solutions to protests without using police force, while also providing guidance to law enforcement if administrators decide a police response is needed.
“These recommendations, and UC’s approach to peaceful protest on our campuses in the future, are guided by academic values that foster a diversity of ideas and encourage spirited debate,” said Edley. “It is through this lens that we must continue to examine these issues and adjust our course of action.” 

Edley and Robinson met with students, faculty and staff in public forums at several UC campuses. 

They emphasized that their work was driven by the belief that free expression is essential to the mission of the University of California. The goal was to identify practices that facilitate such expression, while also protecting the health and safety of students, faculty, staff, police and the general public. Robinson and Edley noted that since they began work on this report, incidents elsewhere in the country have underscored the need for such analysis. 

 

“This report highlights the responsibility, shared by all members of the university community, to ensure that the rights of free speech are respected – in fact honored – and that peaceful, lawful protests exist on our campuses.” Robinson said. “At the same time, it is important to recognize the role that civil disobedience may play in such demonstrations, and the attendant consequences.” 

The full report is available for download at http://campusprotestreport.universityofcalifornia.edu. 

 

 


Try the Road Scholar Program

By Dorothy Snodgrass
Friday May 04, 2012 - 04:59:00 PM

I received the latest Road Scholar program this afternoon -- something that inevitably gets my juices flowing. What truly fabulous programs they offer -- and at remarkably reasonable prices. 

A program I've taken several times is right here in Burlingame -- "Fantastic Comedy: Loads of Laughs." I luxuriate in the elegant hotel looking out at the Bay, as well as enjoying the 5-night program, laughing at great comedians. 

And, of course, there are several programs in the Shakespeare Festival, which I've attended three or four times. This is a truly lovely town, offering the best in drama. If's a great pleasure simply walking around beautiful Lithia Park. 

If your patriotism is at low ebb, I recommend the 4-night program in Washington, D.C., exploring museums and historic sites on and off the National Mall. Witness the changing of the guard ceremony in Arlington Cemetery and visit the grave of President John F. Kennedy. 

If you dig Dixie-land jazz, you should certainly take in two programs -- one in New Orleans itself, the other in Lafayette, Louisiana. There you'll venture into the French Quarter, riding along historic St. Charles Avenue and walking in the Garden District. You'll even learn the Cajun waltz and two-step in an entertaining dance lesson. 

For dedicated music lovers, there's a three-night program at the Santa Fe Opera in July and August, where you'll also visit the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Lodging is in a hotel near the downtown historic plaza. I've attended this program three times. 

Movie fans will absolutely adore the 5-nights Fine Film Program in Seattle's International Film Festival -- a very hilly city, I might add. 

Capture the unique heritage and natural beauty of San Antonio in a 5-night program, especially the River Walk. Lodging will be in an architectural masterpiece with outdoor swimming pool. 

Last, but certainly not least, is the 39th Annual Music Festival, where hundreds of musicians perform amid historic Old Sacramento. You stay in charming, full-service hotel downtown. But you'll have to hurry -- the dates are May 23-29. 

For complete inform on these exciting programs, visit www.roadscholar.org.


Opinion

Editorials

Who Thinks What about Re-Zoning West Berkeley, and How Do We Know?

By Becky O'Malley
Friday May 04, 2012 - 02:04:00 PM

There probably won’t be a new formal editorial posted today because we’ve been spending the morning struggling with our server. For the non-techies among you, that’s a computer, maintained on the premises of a Berkeley computing company, LMI Inc., where the program which produces this website is running. A number of readers have complained that when they click on the site, or on links to the site in emails that I send, it doesn’t come up as expected. And my job of posting articles has become very difficult because the server goes down frequently, stopping my work. 

Evidently there need to be some changes made, but "Further Research is Necessary" to determine what’s likely to work. Please bear with us and with LMI. 

The topic I’ve been mulling over in my mind is the eternal question of the Silent Majority. Let’s start, as we seem to do more and more often these days, with Wikipedia. (I’m tempted to say “the invaluable Wikipedia”, but that’s so true it’s become a cliché. ) 

Wikipedia defines it thus: “The silent majority is an unspecified large majority of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly.[1] The term was popularized (though not first used) by U.S. President Richard Nixon in a November 3, 1969, speech in which he said, "And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support."[2] In this usage it referred to those Americans who did not join in the large demonstrations against the Vietnam War at the time, who did not join in the counterculture, and who did not participate in public discourse. Nixon along with many others saw this group of Middle Americans as being overshadowed in the media by the more vocal minority.” 

It seems that every time a significant number of citizens pull together in support of some proposition of civic importance, naysayers pop up to assert that the opposite view is surely held by a silent majority of less vocal burgers. This has happened to the lively controversy which surrounds the West Berkeley project, which has devolved into a set of proposed zoning changes which clearly will benefit three particular large property holdings. 

As Toni Mester points out in this issue, Frances Dinkelspiel on the berkeleyside.com website did an estimable job of reporting on the public hearing at Tuesday’s city council meeting which discussed these proposals. Also, the city council video of the event is available online if you want to hear more. 

The great majority of speakers, both residents and small business people, opposed the changes. So how did the modest but vocal minority of readers who habitually avail themselves of Berkeleyside’s Disqus commentary line respond to the article? 

The cowardly cuckoos who unfortunately pollute the comment threads in this and many online publications with anonymous invective tried to claim that, although most of the speakers who crowded the council chambers and spilled into the halls urged the council to reject the proposed amendments, there’s a vast pool of silent Berkeleyans who’d love to see skyscrapers filled with synthetic biology startups lining the Aquatic Park shoreline. One pig-headed regular even suggested that Councilmember Kriss Worthington had a nefarious motive for asking pointed questions: 

“Could it be because he knows that (at least some of) the opposition to the proposed plan comes from agitating done by a certain Berkeley news outlet? A news outlet that has endorsed him in the past?” 

Cue the Twilight Zone music: nya-nya nya-nya, nya-nya nya-nya! 

As longtime readers of the Berkeley Daily Planet know, our opinion columns have always been open to any local writer who has the guts to sign his or her rightful name. Many times we’ve run pieces from writers with whom we almost always disagree (Alan Tobey has written some of them) or disagree sometimes and in part (google Charles Siegel, for example). These are people worthy of respect because they stand behind their ideas. And we also run signed opinion pieces that we agree with. 

Since we’re at this point non-commercial, just about everyone whose work you read here is working for free. The two of us now grappling with the editorial duties don’t pay ourselves or our writers. This means that most of them are people who have a personal interest in the subject they’re writing about, and even (god forbid) personal opinions about it. And surprise, surprise, sometimes we agree with their opinions, but sometimes we don’t. 

When a writer combines a lot of information with a modest amount of opinion, we place the piece in the News section, but qualified with the News Analysis label. We also run press releases from reliable organizations clearly marked as such, because I’ve gotten tired of the standard journalistic practice of re-writing such press releases and pretending that they were true facts freshly reported. 

All of this has been a long-winded way of saying that there’s no logical reason to think that just because 

  1. almost everyone at Tuesday’s public hearing opposed the West Berkeley pro-developer zoning amendments; and
  2. almost everyone who’s written about them for the Planet agrees; and
  3. the Planet’s editor might even agree with these people
that there’s an infinite sea of faceless and voiceless Berkeleyans, a silent majority in fact, who hold the contrary point of view. 

The silent majority is, as it’s always been, those people who have only a vague idea of what’s going on, and don’t much care about it. Over time, as we learned from the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and now the gay marriage debate, the ill-informed silent majority can gradually become better informed if the well-informed vocal minority works at it hard enough. 

Let’s hope, for Berkeley’s sake, that this can happen before everything that now works beautifully about West Berkeley is sacrificed on the altar of private profiteering. 

(And now it looks like I've run on in almost as much space as a formal essay would have occupied. Clearly, I'm not part of any silent majority!)


Cartoons

Odd Bodkins: The Phone Number (Cartoon)

By Dan O'Neill
Monday May 07, 2012 - 01:58:00 PM

 

Dan O'Neill

 


Public Comment

New: Berkeley ZAB to Make Iceland Decision on Thursday

By Tom Killelea
Tuesday May 08, 2012 - 06:14:00 PM

It appears that the Zoning Board hearing to approve the Sports Basement permit is now May 10, not May 24 as originally expected. This is an extremely short schedule between meetings making preparations to get our voices heard are significantly shortened. If at all possible, please come to the ZAB on Thursday - the only way to make it clear to the City what the community needs is by getting a lot of folks out there. Also, write to the Zoning Board secretary Steven Buckley at SBuckley@CityofBerkeley.info protesting the plan and providing your comments on the appropriateness of a 70,000 sq. ft. store in what should be a public community recreation space! 

We will appeal the decision and the timing of these meetings. More emails to come. Tell your friends and neighbors that we need their help!


Eric Angstadt--Will He Bring His Bad Habits from Oakland to Berkeley?

By Robert Brokl
Friday May 04, 2012 - 09:29:00 AM

We’ve fielded so many questions recently about “who is Eric Angstadt anyway?”, the person just appointed Berkeley’s Planning Director with a $175,000/year salary. He had a modest resume, just planning in Benecia, before working his way up the chain of command in Oakland’s Planning Dept. to Deputy Director of the Community Economic and Development Agency (CEDA), before the Berkeley switch. We can cite some examples of his planning policies in Oakland, but Angstadt, under the Oakland system of government, flew mostly under the radar. It is safe to describe him as a exemplary graduate of the Jerry Brown finishing school for bureaucrats, a product of the Oakland political milieu. 

Angstadt had the good fortune to deal with a compliant Planning Commission under Mayors Brown, Dellums, and Quan. In Oakland, even before Jerry Brown convinced voters to replace the City Manager form of government with a “strong mayor” system, the mayor makes choices for boards and commissions. That doesn’t mean that business interests, councilmembers, etc. don’t weigh in, but the Mayor appoints. 

Jerry Brown liked a rubber stamp planning commission. (See my article in the July 10, 2007 Berkeley Daily Planet “Oakland Planning Commissioners to Citizens: Eat Cake!”) A little research of ours revealed all of the commissioners, including Michael Lighty, an executive with the powerful California Nurses Association, and Doug Boxer lived in the Hills, or exclusive neighborhoods like Trestle Glen. These were the very people who preached about smart growth and lively, pedestrian-oriented streets, but they had the means to chose not to live the lives they advocated for the rest of us. 

Angstadt also didn’t have to consider very much the demands of neighborhood, community, and preservation groups that had flourished under Elihu Harris. Brown knee-capped these groups--Sanjiv Handa described him as a neutron bomb on Oakland, eliminating the citizenry while leaving the buildings standing. 

Unlike previous administrations, under Brown, department heads and senior staff didn’t have to attend commission meetings, listen to community testimony, give reports, or be visible. When Brown fired the very able Leslie Gould (who reappeared recently as a finalist for San Francisco planning director), he replaced her with Gould’s number two, Claudia Cappio, who came from Albany and Emeryville government. Angstadt’s rise began under Cappio. 

Kickback Scandal

Angstadt, now “strategic planning manager,” got a flurry of unflattering attention in an April 18, 2007 article by Matier and Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle for his dealings with developer Arkady Zlobinsky over gifts. While turning down an offering of $400 in travelers checks from Zlobinsky (apparently Angstadt, Councilperson Larry Reid and others worried it was a trap), Angstadt had accepted a bottle of Blue Label whiskey and a $250 gift certificate to the House of Prime Rib. Cappio came to Angstadt’s defense, saying “presents worth up to $250 are OK as long as officials report them on economic disclosure forms.” According to the article, the Zlobinsky episode was folded into an ongoing FBI probe of corruption in Oakland government. 

As Oakland’s financial woes increased, Angstadt’s tenure coincided with steep increases in fees for services and appeals, along with the receding ability of citizens to weigh in on projects. Many appeals and decisions were relegated to the “zoning administrator,” appealable only to the unsympathetic Planning Commission, with exorbitant fees. (Previously, Planning Commission decisions could be appealed to the City Council, an elected body presumably more attuned to the public.) Or projects got decided by staff, and appealable only to subset groups of the Planning Commission, with no other recourse other than suing. 

The following are are a few of our picks for classic Angstadt: 

Courthouse Athletic Club Debacle: 

Our most sustained encounter with Angstadt was over the Courthouse Athletic Club demolition. While Angstadt was Deputy Director of CEDA, the landmark former mortuary building on Telegraph Ave. was demolished to make way for Oakland’s specialty: a for-sale cleared lot/development site. 

A massive market-rate condo project was proposed for the Courthouse site by the Dallas-based giant Trammell Crow real estate and investment business (once the largest landlord in the United States). After it was clear to everyone involved that a market-rate condo project was never going to be built in the housing downturn and the condomania train had left the station, the City and Trammell Crow moved relentlessly ahead with environmental review and project approval anyway. A city employee in Planning and Building defended the process, leading inexorably to demolition and a (still) vacant lot, since “the $500,000 in developer fees paid the salaries of two city employees.” 

Trammell Crows’s fallback, undercover, strategy was to sell off the site and approved project, after demolition, to the Oakland Housing Authority, for low-income housing. Only a terse letter from the State Office of Historic Preservation suggesting that ruse would not fly prevented the hand over to OHA. Nevertheless, the Courthouse was demolished, as well as two redwoods--Trammell Crow wouldn’t even leave “protected trees.” (The Planet ran several of articles concerning the Courthouse, including “Will High-End Condo Project Doom the Courthouse?,” July 9, 2009 and “Courthouse Athletic Club Demolished, Oakland-style,” Oct. 15-21, 2009.) 

A front page New York Times article from June 19, 2011 details the special and apparently unethical relationship scion Harlan Crow maintains with Clarence Thomas, including presenting the justice with a Bible that once belonged to Frederick Douglass and valued at $19,000, underwriting a museum in Georgia that was a pet cause of Thomas, and giving $500,000 to Virginia Thomas to start a Tea Party-related group. Crow has donated $5 million to Republican campaigns and conservative groups, including $100,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Peace, the group that helped to sink John Kerry’s candidacy. 

No one is suggesting Oakland shouldn’t be open for business, even with scum bags, but when the proposed project went south, the city could have held the developer to his original plans, preventing another vacant lot in the struggling Uptown area where Brown pumped millions in redevelopment money. 

But Angstadt supported all of the speculative, oversized, market rate condo projects proposed for Temescal and elsewhere. Variances and conditional use permits to shoehorn them in were handed out like candy. Some more modest projects actually were built before the bottom fell out, but he did nothing to temper the overheated dreams of developers and their politicians--ghosts of the never-built condos at the Kingfish, Global Video and Pussycat Theater sites, 47th and Telegraph, 48th and Shattuck (the occasion for our STAND lawsuit), etc. all haunt the Temescal. 

Did you mention these missteps in your interviews, Eric? 

Nik-Nak Liquors

Another neighborhood contretemps flared over this underwhelming liquor store at 6400 Shattuck Ave., at the corner of Alcatraz and Shattuck, in 2009. The longtime owner had allowed his deemed approval status as a legal nonconforming use to lapse by closing the store for over 5 years (90 days is the limit), the store was within 1000 feet of an elementary school and within 1000 feet of another liquor store. Oakland’s regulations prohibit liquor licenses closer than 1,000 feet except in the Central Business District--a market across the street was already selling beer and wine. Staff was prepared to recommend against granting a variance and conditional use permit to allow the Nik-Nak owner to resume selling liquor. But after the Planning Commission buckled to pressure from the owner and his allies, staff did a 180 degree turn and supported the Nik-Nak application. The reason: “This store will provide for an otherwise unmet Alcoholic Beverage Sales need for a population in the immediate Oakland Community. While beer and wine can be purchased across Alcatraz Avenue, spirit liquors cannot be purchased anywhere within convenient walking distance unless restored at this location...This use at 6400 Shattuck Avenue has historically been part of the character, livability and appropriate development of the surrounding area..”. 

Luckily, wiser heads prevailed at the City Council, after the City Attorney cautioned about likely litigation. 

Rezoning: 

Oakland’s long-overdue rezoning process also occurred on Angstadt’s watch. A priority of Mayor Dellums, the lengthy, expensive rezoning process was another way to busy planning staff with too few projects to review. Angstadt was mostly invisible during the numerous meetings, except for brief appearances with his ever-present mirthless smirk and wary, watchful eyes. It was apparent to most of us who participated that, after the early meetings, all the significant business was occurring away from the public. We did spot Angstadt schmoozing the developer crowd at a commercial corridor meeting. 

(No surprise the pro-development lobby, the Oakland Builders Alliance, threw a farewell party for Angstadt on April 4. The Alliance is composed of such well-known developers as OBA chair Carlos Plazola, Terra Linda Development and former aide to Ignacio De La Fuente; Vice-chair Kathy Kuhner of Dogtown Development; the well-known (some might say infamous) Joe O’Donoghue of the San Francisco-based Residential Builders Association and Joe DeCredico, GDeS Architecture and Planning of Berkeley. [A well-connected City of Oakland employee attributes Angstadt's move to being actively "recruited" by DeCredico, who spoke at the Berkeley City Council on Tuesday in favor of rezoning West Berkeley for development , and whose Facebook page lists Loni Hancock and developers’ attorney Rina Rickles as “friends.”] 

Planning staff was quite reassuring how little zoning would change under the new classifications, not much upzoning and even some downzoning. Our North Oakland neighborhood was supposed to remain relatively low density, single, family/garden apartment. 

But before Angstadt’s departure, planning staff began courting developers by allowing “mini-lot subdivisions,” even on substandard lots. All the usual tricks from the past reappeared, including variances and conditional use permits, to allow individually owned and separate dwellings on lots that are, under the City’s guidelines, too small for such construction. 

The rezoning was supposed to elimate the need for variances, since they were supposed to be as “scarce as hens’ teeth,” according to Cappio. 

But developers are avid for such individually owned units, which sell for more than condos. Not yet again the 5 story, sky-blocking condominiums, just the small scale rot of allowing developers to supersede wishes of nearby neighbors. (Kuhner was recently allowed a “mini-lot subdivision” on 60th St. in North Oakland.) 

Interestingly, despite Planning staffs’ pride in the “fine-grained” lot by lot, block by block, rezoning, a few parcels slipped though the cracks. The controversial Dover St. “Park” in North Oakland, now with a privatized “community” garden, was overlooked. It retains it’s previous residential zoning from it’s days as part of Old Merritt Community College and was not changed to reflect it’s current status as “park/open space.” 

Also overlooked was Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall, which has a commercial zoning. This probably wouldn’t have mattered much, except when Mayor Quan decided to evict Occupy--parks have curfews and she would have had this excuse. 

Redevelopment 

Probably the major reason why Angstadt jumped ship was the huge role, now eliminated, of redevelopment funds. All the fun projects like assembling parcels for sports stadia (Jack London Square was one choice), clearing neighborhoods for big-box (the Broadway-Valdez scheme) required redevelopment funds and the threat of eminent domain to force unwilling sellers to vacate. (“Don’t Drink the Redevelopment Kool-Aid,” Berkeley Daily Planet, June 17, 2005.) 

In his tenure at Oakland, Angstadt simply had to please his superiors, the Mayor and councilmembers (although we were shared an angry exchange between him and the progressive on the council). He could ignore weak preservation and neighborhood groups in Oakland and rely upon rubber stamp commissions to go along with whatever the developer community wanted, under the cloak of smart growth or simply because, as Claudia Cappio said, “Oakland is not yet in any position to turn down projects.” 

Berkeley is a different story, with commissioners reflecting the positions of those appointing them, and community/neighborhood/preservation groups used to being at the table, listened to, and suing. Angstadt has so many bad habits from the Oakland experience--of government done to the citizens and not for or with them--that one doubts he’s capable of being retrained. His tenure may be a short one. 


Bob Brokl is an artist and an Oakland community activist who ives in the Temescal/North Oakland area.


Columns

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE: Latin America Delivers A Swift Kick

By Conn Hallinan
Friday May 04, 2012 - 02:32:00 PM

On one level, April’s hemispheric summit meeting was an old fashioned butt kicking for Washington’s policies in the region. The White House found itself virtually alone—Dudley Do Right Canada its sole ally—on everything from Cuba to the war on drugs. But the differences go deeper than the exclusion of Havana and the growing body count in Washington’s failed anti-narcotics strategy. They reflect profound disagreements on how to build economies, confront inequity, and reflect a new balance of power in world affairs. 

The backdrop for the summit is anger in Latin America over the failure of the U.S. and Europe to stimulate their economies, all the while pursuing policies that have flooded the region with money—a “ monetary tsunami” in the words of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff—driving up the value of southern hemisphere currencies and strangling local industries. 

After meeting last month with President Obama, Rousseff said she told him of Brazil’s “concern with the expansionary monetary policies of the rich countries…leading to the depreciation of developed countries currencies and compromising growth among emerging economies.” 

While Latin American economies are in better shape than those in Europe and the U.S., the recession dogging the latter areas—plus the cooling of the Chinese economy—has slowed growth throughout much of Latin America. Brazil’s most recent figures indicate a stalled economy, which could have an impact on efforts by the Rousseff government to raise living standards and narrow what was once the world’s biggest gap between rich and poor. 

According to the Getulio Vargas Foundation Brazil has lifted 33 million out of extreme poverty since 2003 and, out of a population of 190 million, has created a relatively well-paid workforce of some 105.5 million. In contrast to the U.S. and Europe, where the wealth gap is accelerating, income for the poorest 50 percent of Brazilians has risen 68 percent, while for the top 10 percent, it has grown only 10 percent. 

This growth has come about because most countries in Latin America reject the economic model pushed by Washington and the European Union: free trade, financial deregulation, and deep austerity. 

Argentina is the poster child for the region’s rejection of the so-called “Washington consensus.” Throughout much of the ‘90s, a deeply indebted Argentina followed the strictures of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), slashing government spending and instituting a suffocating austerity. The result was a “debt trap”: cutbacks increased unemployment, which dampened tax revenues, which required yet more cutbacks, and more unemployment. In the end, debts went up. From 1998 to 2002, Argentina’s economy shrank 20 percent. By the time Buenos Aires finally said “enough” and defaulted on its $100 billion sovereign debt, half of its 35 million people were below the poverty line. 

Argentina reversed course and primed the economy with government spending on housing, highways and education. It also subsidized 1.9 million low-income families, which cut poverty in half. Since 2002, the economy has grown at an average rate of 6 percent a year, and joblessness has fallen from 20 percent to 8 percent. 

Brazil has followed a similar strategy that is now threatened by the fiscal and monetary policies of the U.S. and Europe. Those policies have caused the value of Brazil’s currency, the real, to grow, which prices Brazilian manufactured goods out of the international market. 

“There is concern in South America about deindustrialization,” says Alicia Barcena of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America. “Therefore some countries are taking measures to support their productive sectors.” While the Obama Administration calls this support “protectionism,” Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega says, “The measures we are using are to defend ourselves.” 

There are other issues Latin Americans are unhappy about that never made it into U.S. media accounts on the summit, in particular the make-up of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council that Brazil—along with India and South Africa—would like to join. 

As former Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva told the African Union summit last July, “It isn’t possible that the African continent, with 53 countries, has no permanent representation in the Security Council. It isn’t possible that Latin America with its 400 million inhabitants does not have permanent representation. Five countries decide what to do, and how to do it.” 

The five permanent members of the Security Council are the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China. 

While the U.S. has endorsed India’s bid—in large part because it is wooing New Delhi to join its anti-China coalition—Washington has been consciously silent on Brazil’s bid. Indeed, United Nations U.S. representative Susan Rice has been sharply critical of Brazil, India and South Africa for not supporting intervention in Syria. “We have learned a lot [about these three countries] and frankly, not all of it encouraging.” The message is clear: back us and we will think about it. 

The summit was particularly critical of the Obama administration around the exclusion of Cuba, causing the President to turn positively peevish. “Sometimes I feel…we’re caught in a time warp, going back to the 1950s and gunboat diplomacy and Yankees and the Cold War.” 

But from Latin America’s point of view, by maintaining a half-century-old blockade, it is the U.S. who seems locked into the world of the Cold War. And there are, indeed, some worries about “gun boats,” specifically those that make up the newly re-constituted U.S. Fourth Fleet, mothballed in 1950 and revived by the Bush Administration. The U.S. has also recently established military bases in Colombia and Central America. 

The Brazilians are particularly nervous about the security of their newly found offshore oil deposits, and the head of the Brazilian Navy, Admiral Luiz Umberto de Mendonca, is pressing Brasilia for surface ships and submarines. 

Testifying before the Brazilian House of Representatives, Simon Rosental of the prestigious Escuela Superior de Guerra (ESG) institute warned that “The world has known oil reserves that will only last 25 years and in the United States, only for the next ten years.” 

It may be a bit of a stretch to imagine the U.S. actually threatening Brazil’s offshore oil deposits, but Latin Americans can hardly be blamed if they are a tad paranoid about the Colossus of the North. For the past 100 years the U.S. has overthrown governments from Guatemala to Chile, and supported military juntas throughout the region. Brazil only recently emerged from its own U.S.-backed dictatorship. 

“South America,” says Moniz Banderia of the ESG, “is really trying to define its own identity, to differentiate itself from the United States, in opposition to its domination, which is evident in the creation of UANSUR [Union of South American Nations] and the South American Defense Council.” 

UNASUR was established in 2008 and includes all 12 South American nations, plus observers from Panama and Mexico. 

The Defense Council’s Action Plan 2012 aims to integrate the militaries of the region, establish a “peace zone” on the continent, and create a space agency, an essential step for launching satellites. 

Certainly issues like Cuba, the war on drugs, and the tensions over Britain’s claim on the Malvinas/Falkland Islands are areas of friction between the U.S., Europe and South America. But it is in the realm of economics, poverty alleviation, and independent foreign policy that the differences are sharp. 

South Americans tried the austerity model and found it wanting. They have also seen the U.S. and NATO spark wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, and they are deeply suspicious of policy of “humanitarian intervention” in places like Syria because they don’t trust the motives behind it. Members of the BRIC countries, made up of Brazil, South Africa, India, Russia, and China, share those suspicions. 

“There’s almost a third-world sense, a post-colonial sense,” says Mark Quarterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “that they were meddled in, in ways that didn’t rebound to their benefit, and now the same countries are claiming humanitarian reasons for meddling.” 

Thus in Libya, the UN enforced an arms boycott and an oil embargo on the Qaddafi regime, while the French supplied arms to the rebels and Qatar handled rebel oil sales. Brazil and other BRIC nations see a similar pattern in Syria. In the meantime, the U.S. and Europe are conspicuously silent on oil-rich Bahrain’s suppression of its Shiite majority and the lack of democracy in the monarchy-dominated Persian Gulf states. 

So far the Obama Administration has responded to South America’s growing independence by increasing the U.S. military footprint in the region and acting churlish. While the leaders of India and South Korea got formal state affairs, the U.S. President gave Rousseff a two-hour meeting. “Obama could have taken her to dinner,” one Brazilian official complained to The Guardian (UK) “or to the Kennedy Center.” 

But Latin Americans no longer pay as much mind to the atmosphere in Washington as they used to. They are too busy confronting poverty and underdevelopment, forging a multi-polar world in which the U.S. is looking increasingly out of touch..


ECLECTIC RANT: Consumer Chronicles: Maternity Coverage in Health Insurance Plans

By Ralph E. Stone
Friday May 04, 2012 - 02:34:00 PM

I volunteer at Consumer Action assisting consumers by providing consumers with information and resources to help them solve their consumer complaints. Many consumers are unaware that individual health insurance plans in many states do not cover maternity care. One consumer seeking assistance from Consumer Action was sold an individual health insurance policy that did not include maternity coverage even though he had specifically asked for, and was assured by the insurance company agent, that the policy included such coverage. Now the consumer's wife is pregnant and he doesn't have maternity coverage. 

What can the consumer do? He can complain to his state department of insurance -- in California the Department of Insurance . Unfortunately, the agent's misrepresentation about coverage was oral. Therefore, the written policy he signed will probably prevail. The moral of this anecdote is that you should always read a contract before signing it. If you do not understand the contract, have someone more knowledgeable read it for you. Or you can send a list of questions in writing to the agent asking for written responses. If the agent balks, then find another insurance company.
If the couple knew in advance that the policy did not include maternity coverage, they might have been able to buy at an additional cost an add-on policy or depending on the state, a rider to cover maternity care. However, you cannot purchase a maternity rider when you are pregnant and, unfortunately, individual insurance is already very high-priced, even without the additional cost of a maternity care rider.
Presently, there are 106 individual plans in California with 26 overing comprehensive maternity coverage and 7 offering less-than-comprehensive maternity coverage. There are no plans offering riders. California mandates that health maintenance organization (HMO) include maternity benefits in their individual insurance plans
California’s Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM) program is a low-cost coverage program for pregnant women who are uninsured and ineligible for Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid program). AIM is also available to women who have health insurance if their deductible or copayment for maternity coverage is more than $500. For a fee equal to 1.5 percent of her annual household income, an AIM enrollee receives coverage for all medically necessary services (regardless of whether they are pregnancy-related) until 60 days after the pregnancy has ended.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, amended Title VII to specify that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII. Thus, these anti-discrimination protections ensure that most employer-sponsored health insurance or group plans cover maternity expenses.
Under the Affordable Care Act enacted in 2010 -- informally called Obamacare -- starting in 2014, all new health plans sold to individuals and small businesses will be required to cover maternity and newborn care--these services are explicitly listed in the law as "essential health benefits" that the plans must provide. And all new health plans sold to individuals and small businesses will be required to cover maternity and newborn care--these services are explicitly listed in the law as "essential health benefits" that the plans must provide. The federal government has set up a website to help explain the Affordable Care Act. In State of Florida v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Supreme Court will soon decide whether the Affordable Care Act is Constitutional.i
Maternity coverage is essential for most families. The cost of having a baby might cost $5,000, including pre-natal and post-delivery medical charges. Then there is the enormous cost of care for premature baby delivery, breach babies, cesarean sections, and many other complications that can arise from child birth. Any time a new baby is in the neonatal intensive care section of the hospital, the medical expenses rise quickly, potentially $100,000 or more. Thus, it is important that those planning on a family carefully select an individual health policy that includes maternity coverage.
Besides assisting consumers with their individual complaints through a free national hotline, Consumer Action provides financial education materials in multiple languages and an Annual Credit Card Survey. Consumer Action helps consumers assert their rights in the marketplace and make financially savvy choices. More than 8,000 community and grassroots organizations benefit annually from its extensive outreach programs, training materials, and support.


THE PUBLIC EYE: Campaign 2012: Show Me the Money

By Bob Burnett
Friday May 04, 2012 - 09:21:00 AM

Six months before the November 6th presidential election, Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by three percentage points. The most common explanation for the closeness of a race that should be Obama’s to lose is the weak economy. Another explanation is the polarization of electorate: the right has solidified behind Romney but the left hasn’t embraced Obama with the same fervor. But money is the culprit; Republicans have spent more money to affect the final outcome. 

It’s estimated that as much as $8 billion will be spent this election cycle. That compares with $3 billion in the 2010 election – a record for a mid-term election – and $5.3 billion in 2008. Most observers agree that the reason for the 50 percent increase is the 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United ruling that permitted unlimited political expenditures for independent groups – corporation and interest-group spending increased by 500 percent in the last mid-term election. 

2012 political spending will likely follow the pattern established in 2008; 87 percent of ads will be concentrated in 11 battleground states such as Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. If you live in one of these states, you’ll be overwhelmed by radio and television commercials. 

If you’re offended by the humongous amounts of money being spent on political campaigns, you’re not alone. A 2010 CBS News/New York Times poll found that 86 percent of respondents felt it was important to limit campaign spending. Nonetheless, Americans are trapped in the byzantine system. To prepare for the ad avalanche, it’s useful to examine where the money comes from. 

The most authoritative source of information on political funding is OpenSecrets.org. There are four sources of funds for a presidential campaign: donations to a campaign, political Party, or political action committee, and independent expenditures. 

According to Open Secrets, as of March 31, Obama had raised $191,671,860 from direct donations compared to Romney’s $86,631,381. The Democrats also lead in Party donations ($416,604,408 to the Democratic Party and $175,719,337 to the Democratic National Committee); Republicans reported $340,429,878 to their Party and $141,415,033 to the Republican National Committee. Thus Obama has a $215 million lead over Romney and is well on his way to raising the $1 Billion that his presidential campaign committee has set as its target. While it would seem that the President has a safe fundraising lead over his Republican opponent, that doesn’t take into account contributions made to PACs and independent groups. 

As of May 1st, Political Action Committees have expended $114, 147,398 and independent groups have spent $20,150,136. The problem for Obama (and Democratic candidates, in general) is that conservatives fund most of these organizations. Open Secrets reports that of the top-ten “Super PACS” (entities that “raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals”) the top seven are conservative and the number one Super PAC, “Restore our Future” – a pro-Romney organization, has raised $53,549,228 – more than the other nine combined. 

The Super PACs most often discussed are the Crossroads groups run by Karl Rove: American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS. Rove’s objective is to raise $300 million and, so far, he’s garnered more than $100 million. The bulk of this will be raised in Crossroads GPS, which was established as a 501(c) (4) “charitable” organization and, therefore, does not have to reveal its donors. (Recently, political commentator Cenk Uygur reported that 90 percent of Crossroads’ funds come from 24 conservative donors.) A similar organization is Americans for Prosperity funded by the notorious Koch brothers

The Washington Post reported that of the political ads run so far, 90 percent -- $28.5 million – have been funded by 501(c) (4) entities that do not have to disclose their donors. That’s why, if you look at the list of top donors to outside political spending groups you won’t find the names of conservatives Charles and David Koch; we know they are spending millions to defeat Obama, but they are doing it behind the scenes. 

To counter this tide, Obama formed his own Super Pac, Priorities USA, which has raised far less than have the conservative Super PACs, $8,995,171  

One might argue that the net effect will be that during the 2012 election Republicans will have the same amount of money to spend as Democrats. But a large amount of the Republican funds will not be identified as such; they’ll come from organizations like Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity. These groups will continue to run stealth ads blaming Obama for the sputtering economy or high-energy prices or border violence or whatever. That’s why Obama thinks he needs to raise $1 billion; to counter the conservative Super PACs and their pernicious stealth attack ads. 

One of the most famous quotes of the Vietnam War came after the battle of Ben Tre when a US military officer said, “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.” That’s the situation Obama and Democrats are in – those of us who want to place commonsense limits on political expenditures. In 2012 it may be necessary to destroy the political process in order to save it. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bburnett@sonic.net


WILD NEIGHBORS: Paisanos

By Joe Eaton
Friday May 04, 2012 - 08:43:00 AM
Greater roadrunner: not unlike a dinobird.
Mary Beth Farrell (Wikimedia Commons)
Greater roadrunner: not unlike a dinobird.

My first roadrunner encounter was at my grandmother’s funeral in Arkansas. Well, not at the funeral as such; I had snuck off into the woods behind a cousin’s house for a discreet smoke during the post-funeral dinner. When the outlandish bird came strolling through, we were mutually startled. We made eye contact, but the roadrunner didn’t panic. It flicked its tail a couple of times and kept on going. 

This roadrunner, AKA paisano, chaparral cock, lizard bird, snake killer, and other epithets, was near the eastern edge of its mostly Southwestern range, and I was about at the western extent of mine, never having gotten beyond Tulsa. But that was about to change: I was a month away from Berkeley, if the draft didn’t get me first. It was kind of a liminal state, now that I recall it. (And I don’t mean Arkansas, which can be liminal in its own way.) 

I’ve met a number of roadrunners since then, mainly in Southern California, Arizona, and Texas (home of the world’s largest roadrunner, “Paisano Pete,” a statue in Fort Stockton) and have come to realize that, genius that he was, the Warner Brothers animator Chuck Jones got the bird all wrong. It doesn’t go “beep.” It coos like a dove, yelps like a coyote, whirs, whines, and clacks its bill; but no beep. And there’s nothing remotely cute about it. Like pelicans and hornbills, roadrunners make the dinosaur-bird connection obvious. They’re a bit sinister in appearane. That fits their behavior: as a dedicated predator, the roadrunner has more than a little in common with its cartoon adversary. 

Although they’ve been known to eat prickly pear fruit after rubbing the spines off, roadrunners subsist mainly on insects and other arthropods and smaller vertebrates. Each prey item requires a different approach. Scorpions are seized by the tail and bashed against a rock; horned lizards are swallowed head first and dorsal side up so their head spines don’t get stuck in the bird’s throat. They kill rattlesnakes by dancing around them like Muhammad Ali and pecking them in the head; the legend that they surround the rattlers with cholla-joint corrals is unsubstantiated. 

Roadrunners also snatch hummingbirds and small passerines from feeders, take young purple martins from their condos, and raid the mist nets of bird banders. There’s one account of a roadrunner leaping out of an arroyo and downing a low-flying white-throated swift. George M. Sutton, the artist/ornithologist, got the story from a Reverend St. John O’Sullivan of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt. 

Yes, they have their comical side. They appear to be made of spare parts: Elliott Coues described them as “cuckoos compounded of a chicken and a magpie.” (It was Coues who complained that oystercatchers were poorly named because “oysters do not run fast.”) William L. Dawson pointed to the roadrunner as proof “that the Almighty has a sense of humor.” 

Properly speaking, our bird is the greater roadrunner. The smaller but similar lesser roadrunner is endemic to Mexico and Central America. Both are members of the cuckoo family, part of a clade of ground-dwelling New World species. Although Old World cuckoos are notorious brood parasites, roadrunners are model parents: they form long-term pair bonds, and both male and female incubate the eggs and tend to the young. They are typical cuckoos only in having zygodactyl feet: two toes forward, two back. 

A few weeks ago Ron and I watched a pair in the hills south of Livermore. They were walking through the short grass, one a few yards in the lead, apparently bill-clacking at each other; we couldn’t hear them, but their mandibles were moving. They seemed to be scouting for prey. According to the invaluable Birds of North America site, they’d be a mated pair that did not yet have eggs or nestlings, after which they would split up their territory and forage separately. At one point one of the birds—the sexes are identical in size and plumage—volplaned down the hillside, landing in a bush. Flight is not a roadrunner’s strong suit. Then he or she worked back up the slope where its partner was waiting, and the two disappeared over the crest of the hill. 

It may come as a surprise that the roadrunner is a Bay Area bird. The Alameda County Breeding Bird Atlas project documented a sparse permanent population in the southeastern part of the county. But they used to be much more widespread. Roadrunners once nested at Mount Diablo, and there are old records from the Berkeley and Oakland Hills, Palo Alto, and Mount Tamalpais. The species is another casualty of the region’s rampant development. Although roadrunners can become habituated to humans—Sutton says the bird “has a streak of domesticity in his nature” and relates a story of a pair that moved into a chicken house near Santa Fe—they don’t like being crowded. Our loss. 

My first roadrunner encounter was at my grandmother’s funeral in Arkansas. Well, not at the funeral as such; I had snuck off into the woods behind a cousin’s house for a discreet smoke during the post-funeral dinner. When the outlandish bird came strolling through, we were mutually startled. We made eye contact, but the roadrunner didn’t panic. It flicked its tail a couple of times and kept on going. 

This roadrunner, AKA paisano, chaparral cock, lizard bird, snake killer, and other epithets, was near the eastern edge of its mostly Southwestern range, and I was about at the western extent of mine, never having gotten beyond Tulsa. But that was about to change: I was a month away from Berkeley, if the draft didn’t get me first. It was kind of a liminal state, now that I recall it. (And I don’t mean Arkansas, which can be liminal in its own way.) 

I’ve met a number of roadrunners since then, mainly in Southern California, Arizona, and Texas (home of the world’s largest roadrunner, “Paisano Pete,” a statue in Fort Stockton) and have come to realize that, genius that he was, the Warner Brothers animator Chuck Jones got the bird all wrong. It doesn’t go “beep.” It coos like a dove, yelps like a coyote, whirs, whines, and clacks its bill; but no beep. And there’s nothing remotely cute about it. Like pelicans and hornbills, roadrunners make the dinosaur-bird connection obvious. They’re a bit sinister in appearane. That fits their behavior: as a dedicated predator, the roadrunner has more than a little in common with its cartoon adversary. 

Although they’ve been known to eat prickly pear fruit after rubbing the spines off, roadrunners subsist mainly on insects and other arthropods and smaller vertebrates. Each prey item requires a different approach. Scorpions are seized by the tail and bashed against a rock; horned lizards are swallowed head first and dorsal side up so their head spines don’t get stuck in the bird’s throat. They kill rattlesnakes by dancing around them like Muhammad Ali and pecking them in the head; the legend that they surround the rattlers with cholla-joint corrals is unsubstantiated. 

Roadrunners also snatch hummingbirds and small passerines from feeders, take young purple martins from their condos, and raid the mist nets of bird banders. There’s one account of a roadrunner leaping out of an arroyo and downing a low-flying white-throated swift. George M. Sutton, the artist/ornithologist, got the story from a Reverend St. John O’Sullivan of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt. 

Yes, they have their comical side. They appear to be made of spare parts: Elliott Coues described them as “cuckoos compounded of a chicken and a magpie.” (It was Coues who complained that oystercatchers were poorly named because “oysters do not run fast.”) William L. Dawson pointed to the roadrunner as proof “that the Almighty has a sense of humor.” 

Properly speaking, our bird is the greater roadrunner. The smaller but similar lesser roadrunner is endemic to Mexico and Central America. Both are members of the cuckoo family, part of a clade of ground-dwelling New World species. Although Old World cuckoos are notorious brood parasites, roadrunners are model parents: they form long-term pair bonds, and both male and female incubate the eggs and tend to the young. They are typical cuckoos only in having zygodactyl feet: two toes forward, two back. 

A few weeks ago Ron and I watched a pair in the hills south of Livermore. They were walking through the short grass, one a few yards in the lead, apparently bill-clacking at each other; we couldn’t hear them, but their mandibles were moving. They seemed to be scouting for prey. According to the invaluable Birds of North America site, they’d be a mated pair that did not yet have eggs or nestlings, after which they would split up their territory and forage separately. At one point one of the birds—the sexes are identical in size and plumage—volplaned down the hillside, landing in a bush. Flight is not a roadrunner’s strong suit. Then he or she worked back up the slope where its partner was waiting, and the two disappeared over the crest of the hill. 

It may come as a surprise that the roadrunner is a Bay Area bird. The Alameda County Breeding Bird Atlas project documented a sparse permanent population in the southeastern part of the county. But they used to be much more widespread. Roadrunners once nested at Mount Diablo, and there are old records from the Berkeley and Oakland Hills, Palo Alto, and Mount Tamalpais. The species is another casualty of the region’s rampant development. Although roadrunners can become habituated to humans—Sutton says the bird “has a streak of domesticity in his nature” and relates a story of a pair that moved into a chicken house near Santa Fe—they don’t like being crowded. Our loss. 

 


SENIOR POWER: Cinco de Mayo

By Helen Rippier Wheeler
Friday May 04, 2012 - 09:31:00 AM

 

Every May since 1963, the Administration on Aging (AoA) has celebrated Older Americans Month to honor the unique contributions older adults make to their families, communities and society as a whole. To assist the National Aging Network and other groups to plan activities during Older Americans Month and throughout the year, the AoA issues a theme.  

This year’s Never Too Old to Play theme is intended to encourage individuals to remain active in their own lives as well as in their communities. “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing,” opined player George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950). To learn how you can support Older Americans Month 2012 and take part in intergenerational play, contact the Alameda County Area Agency on Aging at 510-577-3530. 

xxxxx 

Cinco de Mayo (May fifth) is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico. In the United States, it has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music and street festivals throughout the U.S. and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla (The Day of the Battle of Puebla, during the Franco-Mexican War 1861-1867). Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day, which is celebrated on September 16 and is the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico. 

 

According to the U.S. Census, 16 % of the U.S. population are of Hispanic or Latino origin. The terms Hispanic or Latino refer to persons who trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spanish-speaking Central and South American nations, and other Spanish cultures. People who identify their origin as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.  

The terms Chicana and Chicano, also spelled Xicana/Xicano, are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, they have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. They began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement’s peak, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  

xxxx 

Problems faced by Hispanic and Latino senior citizens are like those encountered by many people as they age, plus. Members of the nation's fastest-growing minority group are the least prepared for retirement.  

Researchers at the ING Retirement Research Institute found that 57% of Hispanics have never calculated how much money they will need to continue their current lifestyle. Why don’t Latinos save more? They tend not to work in jobs that pay as much as other ethnic groups, so they can not afford to save. Or they may not have access to an employer’s retirement plan. The ING survey found that about one third of Hispanics blamed insufficient income, and more than one-quarter cited a high level of debt. Lack of knowledge about what their options are was also cited as a barrier to saving. 

In Latino culture, it is not unusual for funds that might have been invested or saved to be used to support immediate and extended family and friends. It is common to take care of aging parents or contribute to a child’s education before saving for one’s own retirement. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed have dependents, compared to 54% overall. Many Hispanics send money away to their countries of origin to help other family members. 

 

To boost individual retirement savings, financial education is needed. Across all groups, there’s a feeling that employers could do more to help educate them about their retirement goals.  

 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate among Latinos in December 2011 was 11%, up from 6.3% at the start of the Great Recession in December 2007. Over the same period, the national unemployment rate increased from 5 to 8%. 

More than half of Latinos (53%) depend on Social Security for 90% of their income. About half this group live entirely on Social Security. According to AARP, 78% of Hispanics over age 65 have income from Social Security. Latinos for a Secure Retirement (LSR), a national organization based in Washington, D.C., regards Social Security as insurance for the Hispanic community in their old age because they live longer than other ethnic groups. As lawmakers debate the future of Social Security, minority groups who do not have retirement funds to fall back on will be more reliant on the social safety net. 

There’s good news for Arizona's Latino elders. Becoming a U.S. citizen is easier now. Univision Arizona’s Karla Gomez-Escamilla has produced a video series as part of the MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellowship. Part 1 -- “Nunca es tarde para convertirse ciudadano” It’s never too late to become a citizen, and Part 2 -- “Hacerse ciudadano: proceso rápido y sencillo” Becoming a citizen is a quick and easy process. They show that thousands of documented Latino residents spend many years in the U.S. before taking the opportunity to become a citizen, often waiting until they are elders. Some delay due to lack of English, and others for economic reasons. However, the Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services recently established exceptions and rules to provide improved opportunities for elders’ adoption of U.S. Citizenship. The citizenship interview and examination process is described as a simple, quick and easy event -- even more so if one is 50+ years of age. 

xxxx 

NEWS 

The Slatter twins -- Jeanne Slatter Strickland and her identical twin, Lois Slatter Dye -- 

turned ninety in April. They were born in Oakland and raised in Davis. Both widowed and independent. Each married and had children. Now widowed, they live a block apart in Sacramento. Read about them online in Anita Creamer’s April 26, 2012 Sacramento Bee article. 

xxxxx 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Be sure to confirm. Readers are welcome to share by email news of future events and deadlines that may interest boomers, seniors and elders. Daytime, free, and Bay Area events preferred. pen136@dslextreme.com.  

Saturday, May 5. 4 – 7 P.M. Free. Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Live Oak Community Center, 1301 Shattuck Av. At Berryman St. Join the colorful and exciting festivities! Mexican crafts, games, music, singing, dancing, and pinata breaking will be enjoyed by all who come and celebrate the day's events. Mexican food will be served. Contact: 510-981-5150.  

Saturday, May 5. 1 P.M. Ribbon cutting ceremony. Music, Refreshments. Claremont Library Branch Library Reopening. 2940 Benvenue Ave. Library services resume at 2 P.M. Free. 510-981-6100. 

Monday, May 7. 6:30 P.M. Castoffs knitting group. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Av. An evening of knitting, show and tell, and yarn exchange. All levels are welcome and help will be provided. Free. 510-524-3043.  

Tuesday, May 8. 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Second Tuesdays Poetry Night: Derek Mong & Annie O. Fisher. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Stanford University poet, Derek Mong, reads. He is joined by translator, Annie O. Fisher. Both writers have translated works by the Russian poet, Maxim Amelin. Featured poets followed by open mic. Contact: Dan Hess. 510- 526-3720 x17 

Wednesday, May 9. 12:00 noon - 1:00 PM One-on-One Computer Tutoring: Reservation Required. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Sign up at Reference Desk. 510-526-3720. Also May 23. 

Thursday, May 10. 7-8:45 P.M. Cafe Literario at West Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. Facilitated Spanish language book discussion. May title: La Casa de Dostoievsky by Jorge Edwards. Free. 510-981-6270. 

Thursday, May 10. Annual Spring Luncheon & Fashion Show. The Annual Thrift Shop Fashion and Spring Luncheon, Good Ship Lollipop. Tickets went on sale Friday, April 13, at 8:30 A.M. in the Mastick Senior Center Office, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. Cost of the luncheon is $16 per person. This event guarantees good food, fashion, and fun! All proceeds support Mastick Senior Center. 510-747-7510.  

Friday, May 11. 8:30 A.M. – 2:30 P.M. The African American Caregiving and Wellness Forum V: The End of Alzheimer’s Starts With Me. West Oakland senior Center, 1724 Adeline Street. Registration required by April 27. 1-800-272-3900.  

Sunday, May 13. 12-4:30 P.M., 1:30 - 2:45 P.M. Hertz Concert Hall. Concert and Commencement Ceremony. Sponsor: Department of Music. Concert featuring award winners in the performing arts. Open to all audiences. Event Contact: concerts@berkeley.edu, 510-642-4864. 

Monday, May 14. 12:30 - 1:30 PM. Albany YMCA/Albany Library Brown Bag Lunch Speaker's Forum: SFMOMA's Peter Samis, associate curator of interpretation, discusses the topic: EXPERIENCING THE WORLD OF MODERN ART THROUGH NEW TECHNOLOGIES. The forum is co-sponsored by the Albany YMCA and the Albany Library, 1237 Marin Av. Contact: Ronnie Davis, 510-526-3720 x16 

Monday, May 14. 7:00 P.M. Identity Theft Program. Barbara Jue, a Legal Shield associate, will offer information and advice on how to prevent identity theft and how to cope should it happen. She will also talk about children and computer use and cyber bullying. Q&A follows. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Tuesday, May 15. 6 – 8 P.M. Free Legal Workshop: Alternatives to Foreclosure. Steven Mehlman, a local attorney, will offer an informational session to explain the pros and cons of each financial decision to help you make the right choice for your situation. Sponsored by the Contra Costa County Bar Association. El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Avenue. 510-526-7512. 

Wednesday, May 16. 1:30 P.M. Berkeley Commission on Aging. South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis Street. 510-981-5178 Check the community calendar to confirm. 

Wednesday, May 16. 7-8 P.M. Evening Book Group. Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Moderated by Rosalie Gonzales. 510-526-3720.  

Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20. 10 A.M. – 4 P.M. Friends of the Albany Library BOOK SALE. 1247 Marin Ave. For information, email friendsalbany@yahoo.com or phone 510-526-3720. Please do not bring donations during the two weeks prior to the sale. 

 

Monday May 21. 7 P.M. Kensington Library Book Club: Color of the Sea by John Hamamura. Each meeting starts with a poem selected and read by a member with a brief discussion following the reading. New members are always welcome. Free. 61 Arlington Av. 510-524-3043. 

Tuesday, May 22. 3 – 4 P.M. Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Tea and Cookies at the Library. A free monthly book club for people who want to share the books they have read. 510-981-6100. 

Wednesday, May 23. 12:00 noon - 1:00 PM One-on-One Computer Tutoring: Reservation Required. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Sign up at Reference Desk. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, May 23. 1:30 P.M. Gray Panthers. North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 510-981-5190. 

Wednesday, May 23. 1:30 - 2:30 PM Great Books Discussion Group: Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. Group meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Rosalie Gonzales facilitates the discussion. Come to one meeting, or all meetings. Books are available at the Library. Contact: Ronnie Davis(510) 526-3720 x16 

Sunday, May 27. 130-4:30 P.M. Book Into Film: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. Read the book at home. Watch the movie together. Discuss the book, film and adaptation as a group. Registration required- call 510-981-6236 to sign up. 

Wednesday, May 30. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Saturday, June 2. 10 A.M. – 4 P.M. Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Semi-annual Book Sale. Books sold for 50 cents each. 510-524-8378 or berkeleylibraryfriends.org

Monday, June 4. 6:30 P.M. "Castoffs" - Knitting Group. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. An evening of knitting, show and tell, and yarn exchange. All levels are welcome and help will be provided. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Wednesday, June 6. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Wednesday, June 6. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. 

Also August 1, Sept. 5, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Sunday, June 10. 2 P.M. Blue Suede Jews. Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. Local rock historian Richie Unterberger presents lecture/footage of Jewish musicians in the golden age of rock roll, including Bob Dylan, Carole King and many more. 510-981-6100.  

Wednesday, June 13. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Thursday, June 14. 8:45 P.M. Cafe Literario. West Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Av. Facilitated Spanish language book discussion. June title: Margarita, Está Linda la Mar by Sergio Ramirez. 510-981-6270. 

Saturday, June 16. 5 P.M. Claremont branch, Berkeley Public library, 2940 Benvenue Av. Melanie O’Reilly will perform original music inspired by Joyce’s writings. 510-981-6280. 

Monday, June 18. 7 P.M. Art historian Michael Stehr will discuss Gian Lorenz Bernini, the Michelangelo of the Baroque. He will also present a slide show. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Avenue. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Wednesday, June 20. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Monday June 25. 7 P.M. Kensington Library Book Club: The Chosen by Chaim Potok. 61 Arlington Av. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Tuesday, June 26. 3-4 P.M. Tea and Cookies. Central Berkeley Public Library. 2090 Kittredge. A book club for people who want to share the books they have read. 510-981-6100.  

Wednesday, June 27. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Wednesday, June 27. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. July’s People by Nadine Gordimer. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Sunday, July 8. 1 – 4:30 P.M. The 2012 Berkeley Rent Board Convention will be held in the main meeting room of the downtown, central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge, corner of Shattuck. A slate of candidates for the November 2012 election will be chosen. Contact: www.berkeleyrentboard.org 510-981-6100. 

Wednesday, July 11 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. 

Also August 1, Sept. 5, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, August 1. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. 

Also Sept. 5, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, August 22. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. Selections from The Bhagavad Gita. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, Sept. 5. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. Also Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, Sept. 26. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, Oct. 3. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. Also Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, October 24. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. Troth, by Gregor von Rezzon. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, Nov 7. July 11 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. Also Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, November 28. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. Sunday Morning, by Wallace Stevens. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, Dec. 5. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. 

 

 

Every May since 1963, the Administration on Aging (AoA) has celebrated Older Americans Month to honor the unique contributions older adults make to their families, communities and society as a whole. To assist the National Aging Network and other groups to plan activities during Older Americans Month and throughout the year, the AoA issues a theme.  

This year’s Never Too Old to Play theme is intended to encourage individuals to remain active in their own lives as well as in their communities. “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing,” opined player George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950). To learn how you can support Older Americans Month 2012 and take part in intergenerational play, contact the Alameda County Area Agency on Aging at 510-577-3530. 

xxxxx 

Cinco de Mayo (May fifth) is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico. In the United States, it has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music and street festivals throughout the U.S. and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla (The Day of the Battle of Puebla, during the Franco-Mexican War 1861-1867). Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day, which is celebrated on September 16 and is the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico. 

 

According to the U.S. Census, 16 % of the U.S. population are of Hispanic or Latino origin. The terms Hispanic or Latino refer to persons who trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spanish-speaking Central and South American nations, and other Spanish cultures. People who identify their origin as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.  

The terms Chicana and Chicano, also spelled Xicana/Xicano, are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, they have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. They began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement’s peak, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  

xxxx 

Problems faced by Hispanic and Latino senior citizens are like those encountered by many people as they age, plus. Members of the nation's fastest-growing minority group are the least prepared for retirement.  

Researchers at the ING Retirement Research Institute found that 57% of Hispanics have never calculated how much money they will need to continue their current lifestyle. Why don’t Latinos save more? They tend not to work in jobs that pay as much as other ethnic groups, so they can not afford to save. Or they may not have access to an employer’s retirement plan. The ING survey found that about one third of Hispanics blamed insufficient income, and more than one-quarter cited a high level of debt. Lack of knowledge about what their options are was also cited as a barrier to saving. 

In Latino culture, it is not unusual for funds that might have been invested or saved to be used to support immediate and extended family and friends. It is common to take care of aging parents or contribute to a child’s education before saving for one’s own retirement. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed have dependents, compared to 54% overall. Many Hispanics send money away to their countries of origin to help other family members. 

 

To boost individual retirement savings, financial education is needed. Across all groups, there’s a feeling that employers could do more to help educate them about their retirement goals.  

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate among Latinos in December 2011 was 11%, up from 6.3% at the start of the Great Recession in December 2007. Over the same period, the national unemployment rate increased from 5 to 8%. 

More than half of Latinos (53%) depend on Social Security for 90% of their income. About half this group live entirely on Social Security. According to AARP, 78% of Hispanics over age 65 have income from Social Security. Latinos for a Secure Retirement (LSR), a national organization based in Washington, D.C., regards Social Security as insurance for the Hispanic community in their old age because they live longer than other ethnic groups. As lawmakers debate the future of Social Security, minority groups who do not have retirement funds to fall back on will be more reliant on the social safety net. 

There’s good news for Arizona's Latino elders. Becoming a U.S. citizen is easier now. Univision Arizona’s Karla Gomez-Escamilla has produced a video series as part of the MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellowship. Part 1 -- “Nunca es tarde para convertirse ciudadano” It’s never too late to become a citizen, and Part 2 -- “Hacerse ciudadano: proceso rápido y sencillo” Becoming a citizen is a quick and easy process. They show that thousands of documented Latino residents spend many years in the U.S. before taking the opportunity to become a citizen, often waiting until they are elders. Some delay due to lack of English, and others for economic reasons. However, the Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services recently established exceptions and rules to provide improved opportunities for elders’ adoption of U.S. Citizenship. The citizenship interview and examination process is described as a simple, quick and easy event -- even more so if one is 50+ years of age. 

xxxx 

NEWS 

The Slatter twins -- Jeanne Slatter Strickland and her identical twin, Lois Slatter Dye -- 

turned ninety in April. They were born in Oakland and raised in Davis. Both widowed and independent. Each married and had children. Now widowed, they live a block apart in Sacramento. Read about them online in Anita Creamer’s April 26, 2012 Sacramento Bee article. 

xxxxx 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: Be sure to confirm. Readers are welcome to share by email news of future events and deadlines that may interest boomers, seniors and elders. Daytime, free, and Bay Area events preferred. pen136@dslextreme.com.  

Saturday, May 5. 4 – 7 P.M. Free. Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Live Oak Community Center, 1301 Shattuck Av. At Berryman St. Join the colorful and exciting festivities! Mexican crafts, games, music, singing, dancing, and pinata breaking will be enjoyed by all who come and celebrate the day's events. Mexican food will be served. Contact: 510-981-5150.  

Saturday, May 5. 1 P.M. Ribbon cutting ceremony. Music, Refreshments. Claremont Library Branch Library Reopening. 2940 Benvenue Ave. Library services resume at 2 P.M. Free. 510-981-6100. 

Monday, May 7. 6:30 P.M. Castoffs knitting group. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Av. An evening of knitting, show and tell, and yarn exchange. All levels are welcome and help will be provided. Free. 510-524-3043.  

Tuesday, May 8. 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Second Tuesdays Poetry Night: Derek Mong & Annie O. Fisher. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Stanford University poet, Derek Mong, reads. He is joined by translator, Annie O. Fisher. Both writers have translated works by the Russian poet, Maxim Amelin. Featured poets followed by open mic. Contact: Dan Hess. 510- 526-3720 x17 

Wednesday, May 9. 12:00 noon - 1:00 PM One-on-One Computer Tutoring: Reservation Required. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Sign up at Reference Desk. 510-526-3720. Also May 23. 

Thursday, May 10. 7-8:45 P.M. Cafe Literario at West Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. Facilitated Spanish language book discussion. May title: La Casa de Dostoievsky by Jorge Edwards. Free. 510-981-6270. 

Thursday, May 10. Annual Spring Luncheon & Fashion Show. The Annual Thrift Shop Fashion and Spring Luncheon, Good Ship Lollipop. Tickets went on sale Friday, April 13, at 8:30 A.M. in the Mastick Senior Center Office, 1155 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda. Cost of the luncheon is $16 per person. This event guarantees good food, fashion, and fun! All proceeds support Mastick Senior Center. 510-747-7510.  

Friday, May 11. 8:30 A.M. – 2:30 P.M. The African American Caregiving and Wellness Forum V: The End of Alzheimer’s Starts With Me. West Oakland senior Center, 1724 Adeline Street. Registration required by April 27. 1-800-272-3900.  

Sunday, May 13. 12-4:30 P.M., 1:30 - 2:45 P.M. Hertz Concert Hall. Concert and Commencement Ceremony. Sponsor: Department of Music. Concert featuring award winners in the performing arts. Open to all audiences. Event Contact: concerts@berkeley.edu, 510-642-4864. 

Monday, May 14. 12:30 - 1:30 PM. Albany YMCA/Albany Library Brown Bag Lunch Speaker's Forum: SFMOMA's Peter Samis, associate curator of interpretation, discusses the topic: EXPERIENCING THE WORLD OF MODERN ART THROUGH NEW TECHNOLOGIES. The forum is co-sponsored by the Albany YMCA and the Albany Library, 1237 Marin Av. Contact: Ronnie Davis, 510-526-3720 x16 

Monday, May 14. 7:00 P.M. Identity Theft Program. Barbara Jue, a Legal Shield associate, will offer information and advice on how to prevent identity theft and how to cope should it happen. She will also talk about children and computer use and cyber bullying. Q&A follows. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Tuesday, May 15. 6 – 8 P.M. Free Legal Workshop: Alternatives to Foreclosure. Steven Mehlman, a local attorney, will offer an informational session to explain the pros and cons of each financial decision to help you make the right choice for your situation. Sponsored by the Contra Costa County Bar Association. El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Avenue. 510-526-7512. 

Wednesday, May 16. 1:30 P.M. Berkeley Commission on Aging. South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis Street. 510-981-5178 Check the community calendar to confirm. 

Wednesday, May 16. 7-8 P.M. Evening Book Group. Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Moderated by Rosalie Gonzales. 510-526-3720.  

Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20. 10 A.M. – 4 P.M. Friends of the Albany Library BOOK SALE. 1247 Marin Ave. For information, email friendsalbany@yahoo.com or phone 510-526-3720. Please do not bring donations during the two weeks prior to the sale. 

 

Monday May 21. 7 P.M. Kensington Library Book Club: Color of the Sea by John Hamamura. Each meeting starts with a poem selected and read by a member with a brief discussion following the reading. New members are always welcome. Free. 61 Arlington Av. 510-524-3043. 

Tuesday, May 22. 3 – 4 P.M. Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Tea and Cookies at the Library. A free monthly book club for people who want to share the books they have read. 510-981-6100. 

Wednesday, May 23. 12:00 noon - 1:00 PM One-on-One Computer Tutoring: Reservation Required. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Sign up at Reference Desk. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, May 23. 1:30 P.M. Gray Panthers. North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst. 510-981-5190. 

Wednesday, May 23. 1:30 - 2:30 PM Great Books Discussion Group: Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. Group meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Rosalie Gonzales facilitates the discussion. Come to one meeting, or all meetings. Books are available at the Library. Contact: Ronnie Davis(510) 526-3720 x16 

Sunday, May 27. 130-4:30 P.M. Book Into Film: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn at Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. Read the book at home. Watch the movie together. Discuss the book, film and adaptation as a group. Registration required- call 510-981-6236 to sign up. 

Wednesday, May 30. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Saturday, June 2. 10 A.M. – 4 P.M. Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Semi-annual Book Sale. Books sold for 50 cents each. 510-524-8378 or berkeleylibraryfriends.org

Monday, June 4. 6:30 P.M. "Castoffs" - Knitting Group. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. An evening of knitting, show and tell, and yarn exchange. All levels are welcome and help will be provided. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Wednesday, June 6. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Wednesday, June 6. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. 

Also August 1, Sept. 5, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Sunday, June 10. 2 P.M. Blue Suede Jews. Central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. Local rock historian Richie Unterberger presents lecture/footage of Jewish musicians in the golden age of rock roll, including Bob Dylan, Carole King and many more. 510-981-6100.  

Wednesday, June 13. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Thursday, June 14. 8:45 P.M. Cafe Literario. West Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Av. Facilitated Spanish language book discussion. June title: Margarita, Está Linda la Mar by Sergio Ramirez. 510-981-6270. 

Saturday, June 16. 5 P.M. Claremont branch, Berkeley Public library, 2940 Benvenue Av. Melanie O’Reilly will perform original music inspired by Joyce’s writings. 510-981-6280. 

Monday, June 18. 7 P.M. Art historian Michael Stehr will discuss Gian Lorenz Bernini, the Michelangelo of the Baroque. He will also present a slide show. Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Avenue. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Wednesday, June 20. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Monday June 25. 7 P.M. Kensington Library Book Club: The Chosen by Chaim Potok. 61 Arlington Av. Free. 510-524-3043. 

Tuesday, June 26. 3-4 P.M. Tea and Cookies. Central Berkeley Public Library. 2090 Kittredge. A book club for people who want to share the books they have read. 510-981-6100.  

Wednesday, June 27. 12 Noon-1 P.M. Playreaders at Central Berkeley Public Library.  

2090 Kittredge. Meets weekly to read aloud from great plays, changing parts frequently. Intended for adult participants. 510-981-6100. 

Wednesday, June 27. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. July’s People by Nadine Gordimer. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Sunday, July 8. 1 – 4:30 P.M. The 2012 Berkeley Rent Board Convention will be held in the main meeting room of the downtown, central Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge, corner of Shattuck. A slate of candidates for the November 2012 election will be chosen. Contact: www.berkeleyrentboard.org 510-981-6100. 

Wednesday, July 11 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. 

Also August 1, Sept. 5, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, August 1. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. 

Also Sept. 5, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, August 22. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. Selections from The Bhagavad Gita. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, Sept. 5. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. Also Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, Sept. 26. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, Oct. 3. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. Also Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, October 24. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. Troth, by Gregor von Rezzon. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, Nov 7. July 11 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. Also Dec. 5.  

Wednesday, November 28. 1:30-2:30P.M. Great Books discussion group. Sunday Morning, by Wallace Stevens. Rosalie Gonzales, group facilitator. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. 510-526-3720.  

Wednesday, Dec. 5. 6-8 P.M. Lawyer in the Library. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Av. Free 15 minute consultation with an attorney who will clarify your situation, advise you of your options, get you started with a solution, and make a referral when needed. Sign up in person at the Reference desk or call 510-526-3720 ext. 5 during library hours. 

 

 


ON MENTAL ILLNESS: Let's Reduce Expectations

By Jack Bragen
Friday May 04, 2012 - 11:15:00 AM

When someone has suffered a severe episode of mental illness, it has likely frightened and upset them and their family, and the expectations for success in life are sometimes off the table. Remaining stabilized and out of the hospital (and perhaps not wandering the streets in a psychotic state) is often a satisfactory goal. Sometimes it is not necessary and not appropriate to try to do more, such as going to school or getting a job, at least until one is ready. Simply remaining stabilized, for someone with a major mental illness, is often an adequate accomplishment. 

Most non-afflicted young adults believe they should either have a job or work toward one by going to school. This work ethic is ingrained in the minds of most people in the U.S. For persons with mental illness, in order to not create a relapse, sometimes the plan is to back off from the work ethic. 

The "work ethic" is often a means of self-punishment in the same way that many women are obsessed with being slim enough and men obsessed with being "manly" enough. When motivation becomes a "do or die" thing, it is toxic for someone with a psychiatric disability. We can not endure the same level of strain as someone who doesn't have this susceptibility. 

When someone who is subject to psychotic episodes merely takes good care of their mind and body, it serves the community because we are not out doing disruptive things, we are saving money for the care system, which can go elsewhere, and we do not need to receive the same level of assistance from others. Moreover, when we stay well, it is a load off of family members. We might also preserve friendships that could be lost during the thorny time of being psychotic. There are many parents who would count their blessings merely to have their son or daughter take the medication, stay out of trouble and be able to carry on a normal conversation. 

Taking care of ourselves includes not taking on more stress or more responsibility than we can handle. By preventing ourselves from becoming overwhelmed with too many commitments, it is more likely that we will stay well, and will be able to handle more things in the long run. 

It is okay to spend time playing scrabble, baking a cake, or producing oil paintings. Not all persons with mental illness need to be ambitious and "go somewhere in life." If a person creates an adaptation in which he or she is relatively happy much of the time, who are they hurting by not getting a job? 

A person with mental illness could consider the idea that they have an "early retirement." If one thinks about it in these terms, and even presents it to others this way, it could take on a more positive perception, one that doesn't cast a shadow on a person's existence. 

Excessive stress could be bad for the brain. Having repeated relapses of psychosis or mania is terrible for a person's mental health, in the long run. The brain apparently becomes biologically traumatized. (Brain trauma is a separate issue from emotional trauma, although many people get both.) Too many repeated episodes of bipolar or schizophrenia can leave a mental health consumer "burned out" and seemingly "dull-witted." These are diseases that must be dealt with in a timely manner. 

The above paragraph illustrates the importance of "merely" remaining stabilized on medications. If a person recovers enough from their disease, some type of achievement in life, which might or might not include regular work, is probable.


Arts & Events

New: Around & About Theater: Mansaku-no Kai, Japanese Classical Comedy, the Counterpoint to Noh

By Ken Bullock
Monday May 07, 2012 - 01:49:00 PM

Most theater-goers are familiar with Noh, at least from photos or in film: spare stage with musicians and chorus sitting on the boards, lead actor in gorgeous brocades and usually a mask, moving in a stylized way--something fantastic, tragedy from myth and legend of the Japanese past ... 

Kyogen, Noh's complement of comedy, is less familiar. It's less distant, less recondite. The stories are like our own medieval farces, or Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Boccaccio's Decameron: servants tricking masters, wives getting it over on husbands, priests made fun of. The costumes are more rustic, the stage even sparer: no music, usually, or chorus, seldom masks ... but plenty of slapstick-like conundrums, in a style of rigorous movement that could be compared to martial arts--and puns. Kyogen itself means Crazy Words, and is related to Zen language concepts. Together with Noh--"Nohgaku," as they're jointly referred to--it's the oldest ongoing theater form practiced in the world. 

Mansaku-no Kai, the Kyogen troupe here from Tokyo, performing Thursday and Friday nights for the San Francisco International Arts Festival, features one of the living masters of the genre, Mansaku Nomura, now in his 80s, but at the height of his style. His father, known during his career as Manzo VI (the family has performed Kyogen for over seven generations), was the most famous Kyogen actor of his time, and the first to take the art outside Japan in the 50s and 60s, to Europe, the States (early 60s in the Bay Area)--and China. (Mansaku Nomura has talked about the cave painting outside Beijing their hosts there showed the Nomura family as a surprise: ancient pictures of Chinese circus, with the clown wearing the yellow footgear--"tabi," in Japanese, "socks"--peculiar in theater to Kyogen actors, showing what a long lineage preceded Kyogen's adoption by the Shogun's court over 600 years ago, and its elevation to classical status.) 

Mansaku Nomura's generally regarded as one of the very finest living performers, inheritor of his father's technical expertise. He's bringing, with his troupe, three unusual plays: Suminuri (Black Crocodile Tears), in which a servant convinces his master that his mistress' weeping is manipulative, with the help of some ink; Tsuki-mi Zato (Moon-Viewing Blindman), in which a blindman (Mansaku Nomura) remarks how different two people can be, not knowing it's just one man who's tricking him--and Kubihiki (Neck-Pulling), showing a famous warrior cornered by a demon, who wants his timid daughter to eat the hero, leading to a wrestling match and more (one of the Kyogen plays which features masks--and a little bit of satire of Noh seriousness ... ) 

This program will only be presented here and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C., the two stops of this tour. 

Mansaku Nomura is a traditional actor who's interested in the future, and in collaborations with contemporary forms ... He taught the Fool character in Kurosawa's film 'Ran' Kyogen dances, and his son, Mansai, now a TV and movie personality in Japan, played the Blind Hermit Boy whose appearance concludes that film. Mansaku has been a mentor to Yuriko Doi, foundr of SF's Theatre of Yugen in 1979, for many years the only troupe in North America that performed Kyogen plays in English and practiced the physical styles of Noh and Kyogen. 

I first met Yuriko in June, 1980 at a Jean-Louis Barrault mime performance at Zellerbach Hall, and saw the Nomura brothers in a memorial performance for their father about a month later. Hooked, I was lucky enough to study with Mansaku Nomura the following summer at UCLA, and later visited him in Tokyo. Kyogen is full of the magic of ancient traditions, yet completely fresh, new at every performance--the paradox of theater itself. 

"[Kyogen's] fundamental form of expression is laughter, lightness, joy, celebration," says Mansaku Nomura. come celebrate with the master--and laugh! 

Thursday and Friday, 7 p. m. at Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter near Mason, San Francisco, with a workshop open to ticketholders (students of movement arts invited to participate; others invited to watch) on Wednesday from 11:45 on 8th Street; details on www.sfiaf.org $20-$50 (415) 771-6900


Don't Miss This

By Dorothy Snodgrass
Friday May 04, 2012 - 04:56:00 PM

You say that nothing interesting happens in the bay area in May? I beg to differ. Catch some of these intriguing and highly unusual activities: 

"Dvorak Requiem" will be performed by the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, Sat., M 5, 8:00 p.m., Sun. May 6, 4:30 p.m. and Sun. May 13 at 4:30, St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Admission free -- donations appreciated. 

Word for Word Performing Arts Company, presents "Sonoma Mountains" by native American author, Greg Sarris, Sun. May 6, 11 a.m. and 3:p.m., Wheeler Auditorium, U.C. Campus. 

"Spring Awakening", Tony Awards Best Musical, through May 6, Walnut Creek, (925) 943-7469. 

"Don Quixote", three-act ballet about the dream-driven knight errant of La Mancha. War Memorial Opera House, S.F., through May 6. (415) 865-2000. 

"Almost Elton John", Bankhead Theatre, Downtown Livermore, May 5 at 8 p.m., and "The Capitol Steps," May 8 7:30 p.m. (925) 373-6800. 

"Les Miserables", dream the dream, July 10-August 26, Orpheum Theatre, S.F. (888) 746-1799. 

"The Gin Game", Pulitzer Prize winning play about two aging nursing home residents who regularly play gin rummy. Through May 12 at Walnut Creek's Diablo Actors Theatre. 

Diablo Ballet, World class artists, dancers and musicians. May 4 & 5, Shadelands Art Center, Walnut Creek, (925) 943-1775. 

"Alice in Wonderland,", Contra Costa Ballet (world premiere), Friday, May 11 at 7:30; Saturday, 2 p.m. (925) 943-7469. 

"Spring Gala," Oakland Ballet Company, My 5, 7:00 - 9:30. Kaiser Center Auditorium (510) 893-3132. 

17th Annual Arts & Wine Festival, Main Street in beautiful Clayton, Saturday, May 5, 10:00 a.m. - to 7 p.m. , Sunday, May 6, 10: a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (925-) 672- 2300. 

"California Symphony, "Beethoven blows the roof off", Tchaikowsky' s Violin Concerto and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Sunday, May 5, 5:00 to 7:30, Sunday, May 6th 4 p.m. (925) 943-SHOW. 

"VocaPeople", a musical comedy straight out of this world, straight from New York, June 5-17. Marines Memorial Theatre. (15) 771-6900. 

Oakland Greek Festival, May 18, 19 and 20; Friday & Saturday; 10 a.m. - 11 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 4700 Lincoln Avenue. (510) 531-3400. 

Benicia Arts Open Studios, May 5 and 6, 991 Tyler Street, Benicia. 

Northern California Conference on "Women in Business", May 15, Moscone Center, S.F. 

"Tour de Cure", Stop Diabetes, American Diabetes Association, Sunday, May 6, 5:00 a.m - 6 p.m., Veterans Home at Yountville, (510) 654-4499. 

"Blues for Alabama Sky," melodrama set in New York, touching on everything from abortion to homophobia. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, through May 12. (415) 474-8800. 

Bill Cosby brings his legendary style of humor to Silver Legacy's Grand Exposition Hall, Friday, May 18 at 8 p.m. (800-687-8733.) 

If the above activities don't grab you, I fear you're "brain dead."